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

ADVERTISING•WinstonFletcher

AFRICANHISTORY•JohnParkerandRichardRathbone

AGNOSTICISM•RobinLePoidevin

AMERICANPOLITICALPARTIESANDELECTIONS•L.SandyMaisel

THEAMERICANPRESIDENCY•CharlesO.Jones

ANARCHISM•ColinWard

ANCIENTEGYPT•IanShaw

ANCIENTPHILOSOPHY•JuliaAnnas

ANCIENTWARFARE•HarrySidebottom

ANGLICANISM•MarkChapman

THEANGLO-SAXONAGE•JohnBlair

ANIMALRIGHTS•DavidDeGrazia

ANTISEMITISM•StevenBeller

THEAPOCRYPHALGOSPELS•PaulFoster

ARCHAEOLOGY•PaulBahn

ARCHITECTURE•AndrewBallantyne

ARISTOCRACY•WilliamDoyle

ARISTOTLE•JonathanBarnes

ARTHISTORY•DanaArnold

ARTTHEORY•CynthiaFreeland

ATHEISM•JulianBaggini

AUGUSTINE•HenryChadwick

AUTISM•UtaFrith

BARTHES•JonathanCuller

BESTSELLERS•JohnSutherland

THEBIBLE•JohnRiches

BIBLICALARCHEOLOGY•EricH.Cline

BIOGRAPHY•HermioneLee

THEBOOKOFMORMON•TerrylGivens

THEBRAIN•MichaelO'Shea

BRITISHPOLITICS•AnthonyWright

BUDDHA•MichaelCarrithers

BUDDHISM•DamienKeown

BUDDHISTETHICS•DamienKeown

CAPITALISM•JamesFulcher

CATHOLICISM•GeraldO'Collins

THECELTS•BarryCunliffe

CHAOS•LeonardSmith

CHOICETHEORY•MichaelAllingham

CHRISTIANART•BethWilliamson

CHRISTIANETHICS•D.StephenLong

CHRISTIANITY•LindaWoodhead

CITIZENSHIP•RichardBellamy

CLASSICALMYTHOLOGY•HelenMorales

CLASSICS•MaryBeardandJohnHenderson

CLAUSEWITZ•MichaelHoward

THECOLDWAR•RobertMcMahon

COMMUNISM•LeslieHolmes

CONSCIOUSNESS•SusanBlackmore

CONTEMPORARYART•JulianStallabrass

CONTINENTALPHILOSOPHY•SimonCritchley

COSMOLOGY•PeterColes

THECRUSADES•ChristopherTyerman

CRYPTOGRAPHY•FredPiperandSeanMurphy

DADAANDSURREALISM•DavidHopkins

DARWIN•JonathanHoward

THEDEADSEASCROLLS•TimothyLim

DEMOCRACY•BernardCrick

DESCARTES•TomSorell

DESERTS•NickMiddleton

DESIGN•JohnHeskett

DINOSAURS•DavidNorman

DIPLOMACY•JosephM.Siracusa

DOCUMENTARYFILM•PatriciaAufderheide

DREAMING•J.AllanHobson

DRUGS•LeslieIversen

DRUIDS•BarryCunliffe

THEEARTH•MartinRedfern

ECONOMICS•ParthaDasgupta

EGYPTIANMYTH•GeraldinePinch

EIGHTEENTH-CENTURYBRITAIN•PaulLangford

THEELEMENTS•PhilipBall

EMOTION•DylanEvans

EMPIRE•StephenHowe

ENGELS•TerrellCarver

ENGLISHLITERATURE•JonathanBate

EPIDEMIOLOGY•RoldolfoSaracci

ETHICS•SimonBlackburn

THEEUROPEANUNION•JohnPinderandSimonUsherwood

EVOLUTION•BrianandDeborahCharlesworth

EXISTENTIALISM•ThomasFlynn

FASCISM•KevinPassmore

FASHION•RebeccaArnold

FEMINISM•MargaretWalters

FILMMUSIC•KathrynKalinak

THEFIRSTWORLDWAR•MichaelHoward

FORENSICPSYCHOLOGY•DavidCanter

FORENSICSCIENCE•JimFraser

FOSSILS•KeithThomson

FOUCAULT•GaryGutting

FREESPEECH•NigelWarburton

FREEWILL•ThomasPink

FRENCHLITERATURE•JohnD.Lyons

THEFRENCHREVOLUTION•WilliamDoyle

FREUD•AnthonyStorr

FUNDAMENTALISM•MaliseRuthven

GALAXIES•JohnGribbin

GALILEO•StillmanDrake

GAMETHEORY•KenBinmore

GANDHI•BhikhuParekh

GEOGRAPHY•JohnMatthewsandDavidHerbert

GEOPOLITICS•KlausDodds

GERMANLITERATURE•NicholasBoyle

GERMANPHILOSOPHY•AndrewBowie

GLOBALCATASTROPHES•BillMcGuire

GLOBALWARMING•MarkMaslin

GLOBALIZATION•ManfredSteger

THEGREATDEPRESSIONANDTHENEWDEAL•EricRauchway

HABERMAS•JamesGordonFinlayson

HEGEL•PeterSinger

HEIDEGGER•MichaelInwood

HIEROGLYPHS•PenelopeWilson

HINDUISM•KimKnott

HISTORY•JohnH.Arnold

THEHISTORYOFASTRONOMY•MichaelHoskin

THEHISTORYOFLIFE•MichaelBenton

THEHISTORYOFMEDICINE•WilliamBynum

THEHISTORYOFTIME•LeofrancHolford-Strevens

HIV/AIDS•AlanWhiteside

HOBBES•RichardTuck

HUMANEVOLUTION•BernardWood

HUMANRIGHTS•AndrewClapham

HUME•A.J.Ayer

IDEOLOGY•MichaelFreeden

INDIANPHILOSOPHY•SueHamilton

INFORMATION•LucianoFloridi

INNOVATION•MarkDodgsonandDavidGann

INTELLIGENCE•IanJ.Deary

INTERNATIONALMIGRATION•KhalidKoser

INTERNATIONALRELATIONS•PaulWilkinson

ISLAM•MaliseRuthven

ISLAMICHISTORY•AdamSilverstein

JOURNALISM•IanHargreaves

JUDAISM•NormanSolomon

JUNG•AnthonyStevens

KABBALAH•JosephDan

KAFKA•RitchieRobertson

KANT•RogerScruton

KEYNES•RobertSkidelsky

KIERKEGAARD•PatrickGardiner

THEKORAN•MichaelCook

LANDSCAPESANDCEOMORPHOLOGY•AndrewGoudieandHeather

Viles

LAW•RaymondWacks

THELAWSOFTHERMODYNAMICS•PeterAtkins

LEADERSHIP•KethGrint

LINCOLN•AllenC.Guelzo

LINGUISTICS•PeterMatthews

LITERARYTHEORY•JonathanCuller

LOCKE•JohnDunn

LOGIC•GrahamPriest

MACHIAVELLI•QuentinSkinner

MARTINLUTHER•ScottH.Hendrix

THEMARQUISDESADE•JohnPhillips

MARX•PeterSinger

MATHEMATICS•TimothyGowers

THEMEANINGOFLIFE•TerryEagleton

MEDICALETHICS•TonyHope

MEDIEVALBRITAIN•JohnGillinghamandRalphA.Griffiths

MEMORY•JonathanK.Foster

MICHAELFARADAY•FrankA.J.L.James

MODERNART•DavidCottington

MODERNCHINA•RanaMitter

MODERNIRELAND•SeniaPaseta

MODERNJAPAN•ChristopherGoto-Jones

MODERNISM•ChristopherButler

MOLECULES•PhilipBall

MORMONISM•RichardLymanBushman

MUSIC•NicholasCook

MYTH•RobertA.Segal

NATIONALISM•StevenGrosby

NELSONMANDELA•EllekeBoehmer

NEOLIBERALISM•ManfredStegerandRaviRoy

THENEWTESTAMENT•LukeTimothyJohnson

THENEWTESTAMENTASLITERATURE•KyleKeefer

NEWTON•RobertIliffe

NIETZSCHE•MichaelTanner

NINETEENTH-CENTURY BRITAIN • Christopher Harvie and H. C. G.

Matthew

THENORMANCONQUEST•GeorgeGarnett

NORTHERNIRELAND•MarcMulholland

NOTHING•FrankClose

NUCLEARWEAPONS•JosephM.Siracusa

THEOLDTESTAMENT•MichaelD.Coogan

PARTICLEPHYSICS•FrankClose

PAUL•E.P.Sanders

PENTECOSTALISM•WilliamK.Kay

PHILOSOPHY•EdwardCraig

PHILOSOPHYOFLAW•RaymondWacks

PHILOSOPHYOFSCIENCE•SamirOkasha

PHOTOGRAPHY•SteveEdwards

PLANETS•DavidA.Rothery

PLATO•JuliaAnnas

POLITICALPHILOSOPHY•DavidMiller

POLITICS•KennethMinogue

POSTCOLONIALISM•RobertYoung

POSTMODERNISM•ChristopherButler

POSTSTRUCTURALISM•CatherineBelsey

PREHISTORY•ChrisGosden

PRESOCRATICPHILOSOPHY•CatherineOsborne

PRIVACY•RaymondWacks

PROGRESSIVISM•WalterNugent

PSYCHIATRY•TomBurns

PSYCHOLOGY•GillianButlerandFredaMcManus

PURITANISM•FrancisJ.Bremer

THEQUAKERS•PinkDandelion

QUANTUMTHEORY•JohnPolkinghorne

RACISM•AliRattansi

THEREAGANREVOLUTION•GilTroy

THEREFORMATION•PeterMarshall

RELATIVITY•RussellStannard

RELIGIONINAMERICA•TimothyBeal

THERENAISSANCE•JerryBrotton

RENAISSANCEART•GeraldineA.Johnson

ROMANBRITAIN•PeterSalway

THEROMANEMPIRE•ChristopherKelly

ROMANTICISM•MichaelFerber

ROUSSEAU•RobertWokler

RUSSELL•A.C.Grayling

RUSSIANLITERATURE•CatrionaKelly

THERUSSIANREVOLUTION•S.A.Smith

SCHIZOPHRENIA•ChrisFrithandEveJohnstone

SCHOPENHAUER•ChristopherJanaway

SCIENCEANDRELIGION•ThomasDixon

SCOTLAND•RabHouston

SEXUALITY•VéroniqueMottier

SHAKESPEARE•GermaineGreer

SIKHISM•EleanorNesbitt

SOCIAL AND CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY • John Monaghan and

PeterJust

SOCIALISM•MichaelNewman

SOCIOLOGY•SteveBruce

SOCRATES•C.C.W.Taylor

THESOVIETUNION•StephenLovell

THESPANISHCIVILWAR•HelenGraham

SPANISHLITERATURE•JoLabanyi

SPINOZA•RogerScruton

STATISTICS•DavidJ.Hand

STUARTBRITAIN•JohnMorrill

SUPERCONDUCTIVITY•StephenBlundell

TERRORISM•CharlesTownshend

THEOLOGY•DavidF.Ford

THOMASAQUINAS•FergusKerr

TOCQUEVILLE•HarveyC.Mansfield

TRAGEDY•AdrianPoole

THETUDORS•JohnGuy

TWENTIETH-CENTURYBRITAIN•KennethO.Morgan

THEUNITEDNATIONS•JussiM.Hanhimäki

THEU.S.CONCRESS•DonaldA.Ritchie

UTOPIANISM•LymanTowerSargent

THEVIKINGS•JulianRichards

WITCHCRAFT•MalcolmGaskill

WITTGENSTEIN•A.C.Grayling

WORLDMUSIC•PhilipBohlman

THEWORLDTRADEORGANIZATION•AmritaNarlikar

WRITINGANDSCRIPT•AndrewRobinson

AVAILABLESOON:

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LATEANTIQUITY•GillianClark

MUHAMMAD•JonathanA.Brown

GENIUS•AndrewRobinson

NUMBERS•PeterM.Higgins

ORGANIZATIONS•MaryJoHatch

VERYSHORTINTRODUCTIONS

VERY SHORT INTRODUCTIONS are for anyone wanting a stimulating and

accessiblewayintoanewsubject.Theyarewrittenbyexperts,andhavebeen

publishedinmorethan25languagesworldwide.

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Theseriesbeganin1995,andnowrepresentsawidevarietyoftopicsinhistory,

philosophy,religion,science,andthehumanities.TheVSILibrarynowcontains

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Advertising:AVeryShortIntroduction

ADVERTISING



AVeryShortIntroduction



Contents

Preface
Listofillustrations
1Whatdoesadvertisingdo?
2Howtheadvertisingindustryisstructured
3Advertisers:thepaymasters
4Themedia:blowingtheadvertisers’trumpets
5Thecreativeagencies:creatingnewcampaigns
6Themediaagencies:spendingtheclients’money
7Research,research,research
8Thegood,thebad,andtheugly
9Theroleofadvertisinginsociety
Furtherreading
Index


Preface



Advertising is riddled with myths and misunderstandings. It is simultaneously

believed to be both immensely powerful and immensely wasteful, to increase

economicprosperityandtobemorallyquestionable.Neitheritshistoricorigins

nor its modern operations are well understood. Many of these myths and

misunderstandings are almost as widespread within the advertising industry –

itself something of a myth, as we shall see – as they are among the public at

large. This short book, written by someone with extensive knowledge of

advertisingfromtheinside,correctsandclarifiesthemisunderstandingsthatare

socommon.



Listofillustrations

1‘Giveblood’NHScampaignposter
Advertisement shown with the permission of NHS Blood and Transplant
unit

2Tesco
©TescoPhotographicUnit

3NewsoftheWorld,Coverpagefrom1948
©NewsoftheWorld,4April1948/nisyndication.com

4Romanadvertisementforbrothel
©S.Coyne/AncientArt&ArchitectureCollection

5SamuelJohnson
Rischgitz/GettyImages/istockphoto

6Google
©Google.com

7USFordEdseladvertisement
ImagecourtesyofTheAdvertisingArchives

8PGTipschimps

ImagecourtesyofTheAdvertisingArchives



9VictorianSchweppesadvertisement

ImagecourtesyofTheAdvertisingArchives



10Citybillboards

©GettyImages/AFP



11BillBernbach

©Bettmann/Corbis



12DDB’sVWLemoncampaign

ImagecourtesyofTheAdvertisingArchives



13CDP’sHeinekenposter

ImagecourtesyofTheAdvertisingArchives



14JamesVicary

©Time&LifePictures/GettyImages



15DrScott’s‘ElectricCigarettes’

ImagecourtesyofTheAdvertisingArchives



16Foster’sbeeradvertisement

ImagecourtesyofTheAdvertisingArchives



Chapter1

Whatdoesadvertisingdo?



Whatisadvertising?



Like many other commonplace words – think of art, love, and justice, for

example–advertisingissurprisinglyhardtodefinewithprecision.First,thereis

thedifferencebetweenadvertisingandadvertisements:advertisingisaprocess,

advertisementsare the endresultof thatprocess,but thewordsare often used

interchangeably. Second, and perhaps more importantly, while the public uses

the word ‘advertising’ to cover all kinds of publicity, within the advertising

industrythewordisusedfairlyspecifically(thoughevenhere,confusionsarise).



InthisVeryShortIntroduction, I shallbeusing the industry definition.Within

the industry, advertising is just one type of marketing communication. Other

typesofmarketingcommunicationthatarenotnormallydefinedasadvertising

include: packaging; sales promotions (money-offs, two-for-ones, competitions,

andthelike);catalogues;shopwindowsandin-storepublicity;brandplacements

intelevisionprogrammesandfilms;commercialemails;brandnamesonclothes

and other goods; public relations (brand mentions in the media); commercial

websites and blogs; and telephone selling. All of these (and many others), are

marketing communications, and are often used to increase the sales of things.

But within the industry they are not defined as advertisements, nor as

advertising.Sowhatexactlyisanadvertisement?Thoughitisamiteblurredat

theedges,agoodworkingdefinitionis:



An advertisement is a paid-for communication intended to inform and/or

persuadeoneormorepeople.



Let’sexaminethekeywordsinthisdefinition.



First: ‘paid-for’. An advertisement that is not paid-for is not, strictly, an

advertisementatall.Ifnocostwhatsoeverisinvolvedthenthecommunication

may be good publicity, and it may be persuasive, but it is not technically

advertising–unlessitisanadvertisementthathasdeliberatelybeengivenaway

free(perhapstoacharity,orsomethingsimilar).



Second:‘communication’.Everyadvertisementattemptstobridgeagapbetween

the sender and the receiver. This bridge is a communication. To buy a whole

pageinanewspaperandleaveitblankisnottoadvertise.Whetherinwordsor

pictures, or usually both, advertisements must communicate something to

whoeverseesorhearsthem.



Third: ‘intended’. As we shall see, particularly in Chapter 7, not all

advertisements‘work’inthesenseofachievingtheirintendedaims.Thefactthat

an advertisement does not achieve its aims does not detract from it being an

advertisement.Itistheintentionthatcounts.



Fourth: ‘inform and/or persuade’. Many people, usually critics hostile to

advertising,havetriedtodrawadistinctionbetweeninformativeadvertisingand

persuasiveadvertising.Theformerisdeemedtobeacceptableanddesirable,the

latter to be less acceptable or even totally unacceptable. In reality the line

betweeninformationand persuasionisimpossible todraw.Alltheinformation

anadvertiserincludesinanadvertisementisintendedtobepersuasive(unlessit

istherebecauseitislegallynecessary).Butasthepersuasiveroleofadvertising

is contentious, it is betterto say that all advertisements aim to ‘informand/or

persuade’. However, an advertisement that aimed to have no persuasive

influencewhatsoeverwould,again,hardlybeanadvertisement.



Finally: ‘one or more people’. All advertisements are addressed to people.

Sometimestojustoneperson(‘Lollipop–be myValentineandIwillbeyours

forever. Muscleman’); sometimes to countless millions (‘L’Oreal. Because

You’re Worth It’). When the public thinks about advertising, it almost always

thinksaboutmassadvertising,inmassmedia–thetypeofadvertisingonwhich

wewillconcentrateinthisbook.Butsmall,classifiedadvertisementsareahuge

advertising sector, particularly in printed media and on the Internet, and must

never be forgotten. In Britain and many other countries, over 40% of the

advertising revenue of printed media comes from classifieds, though this

percentageisfallingsharplythroughouttheworld,astheInternetiswinninglots

ofclassifiedadvertisingawayfrommoretraditionalmedia.



It has been important to sort out this definition because many things that are

popularly considered to be advertisements will hardly be touched upon in this

book. The focus will be on mass consumer advertising in the major media –

television,newspapersandmagazines,posters,radio,cinema, andtheInternet:

inotherwords,whatmostpeoplemeanbyadvertising,mostofthetime.



Whatdoesadvertisingdo?



Another apparently simple and boring question: surely everyone knows

advertisingsellsthings–thatisitspurpose,isn’tit?Butisitreallysosimple?

HowaboutMuscleman?WhatwashetryingtoselltoLollipop?Whencharities

advertise for funds, whataretheyselling?When the government advertises to

stop people smoking, or drinking and driving, orto give blood, what are they

selling? When the army, or the NHS, or any business, advertises to recruit

people,whataretheyselling?Ineverycase,theadvertisementsareintendedto

‘inform and/or persuade’, so they fall squarely within our definition. But are

theyreallysellingthings?



1.Whataretheyselling?



This leads to a fundamental feature of advertising which many people find

difficulttograsp.Advertisingisnotahomogeneousentity.(Thatiswhyitisso

hard to define with precision.) It covers a multitude of diverse types of

communication,withequallydiverseobjectives.Mostadvertisements,itistrue,

aimto sellgoodsand services.But notalldo. Andeven thosethatdo, aimto

achieve sales in a host of varying ways. Advertisements are like the bits and

piecesinakaleidoscope.Togethertheyappeartomakeaunifiedpattern–butin

realityeachoneofthemislikelytobequitedifferentfromtheothers.



Everyonewhoworksinadvertisinggetsusedtooutsidersasking:‘Whatmakes

anadvertisingcampaignsuccessful?Whatisthesecretofeffectiveadvertising?’

–orsomething verysimilar. The questionimpliesthere mustbesome kindof

‘Golden Key’, which advertisers can use to unlock the secret of producing

advertisingthatworks.



ButthereisnoGoldenKey–andthereisnosingleanswertothequestion‘What

makesanadvertisingcampaignsuccessful?’(Thoughthepeoplewhoaskitare

nearlyalwayskeentoprofferanansweroftheirown,whichiswhytheyaskthe

questioninthefirstplace.)



There could never be a Golden Key, because even campaigns that are

specificallyintendedtosellthingsdosoinamultitudeofdifferentways,witha

multitudeofdifferentimmediateobjectives.Herearetencommonones,usedby

differentadvertisersatdifferenttimesfordifferentproductsandbrands(wewill

lookclosely atthedifferencebetween a‘product’and a‘brand’inChapter3).

Thelistisnotcomprehensive,andcouldneverbe,asadvertisersareconstantly

inventingnewobjectives.However,acampaignmaybeintendedto:



•launchacompletelynewbrand;

•launchanewproductintoanexistingbrand–a‘lineextension’;

•promoteanimprovementtoanexistingbrand;

•makepeoplewhohavenotheardofabrandbecomeawareofit;

•persuadepeoplewhoknowofabrandbuthaven’ttriedittotryit;

•persuadeex-usersofabrandtotryitagain;

•persuadecurrentuserstouseitmoreoften;

•persuadecurrentuserstotryusingitindifferentways;

•persuadeadifferenttargetmarket–youngerorwealthierperhaps–touse

thebrand;

•persuaderetailerstostockthebrand,sopeoplecaneasilybuyit.

These varying objectives demand varied messages, and so demand an almost

infinitevarietyofadvertisingapproaches.



Many textbooks argue that it is vital to define the single objective of any

campaignwithprecision,andindetail,beforerunningacampaign.Advertising

thattriestobeallthingstoallpeople,theyargue,alwaysfails.



Well it is certainly essential to define the objectives of any campaign with

precision,andin detail– but acampaign maywellhave morethanone single

objective,aslongasthedifferentobjectivesareconsistentwitheachotherand

are in no way mutually contradictory. Indeed, recent research has shown that

most successful campaigns have, on average, approximately two-and-a-half

overlapping objectives, for example ‘To build awareness among affluent

prospective customersofan exclusive new brand which they willfindonly in

top-quality retailers’. (That particular objective includes no fewer than four

overlapping objectives – to build awareness/among affluent customers/of an

exclusive brand/only available in top-quality retailers – and all of them are

essentialtoachievethebrand’sentiregoal.)



Theadvertisingstrategy



The objectives of any campaign will be spelled out in a crucial document

generallycalledtheadvertisingstrategy.Thisisakeyblueprintinthecreation

of new campaigns, and we will return to it frequently throughout the book.

Differentadvertisersandtheiragenciesgiveitdifferentnames,butitspurposes

arealwaysthesame:todefinetheobjectivesoftheadvertisingcampaign,andto

ensureeveryoneinvolvedinproducingthecampaignknowsexactlywhatthese

are. This will ensure that they all (many of them highly paid creative people)

wastenotimedevelopingideasthatareirrelevantorarenotwhatisrequired.



To achieve these purposes, the advertising strategy will have a raft of

subheadings and boxes which must be completed before any work on the

campaign goes ahead. These subheadings/boxes will precisely define the

blueprint of the campaign. They will include the campaign’s objectives; facts

aboutthebrandthatshowtheobjectivestoberealistic;thebrand’scompetitors,

with details of their advertising and marketing campaigns; a summary of any

relevantmarketresearch–sayingwhyconsumersusethebrand,andwhythey

donot;themessagethecampaignmustcommunicate,andthetoneinwhichit

mustbecommunicated;whichmediaarelikelytobeusedforthecampaign;the

budgets available both for the preparation of the advertisements and for the

mediacampaign;atimescaleforboththepreparationoftheadvertisementsand

forthedurationofthemediacampaignwhenitruns;anyotherdetailsfelttobe

important to the campaign in question; and, particularly, the target market at

whichthecampaignwillaim.



Many of these important headings will be expanded upon in the chapters that

follow.Butbecauseofitscrucialimportance,letusstartwiththelastfirst:the

targetmarket.



Whatisatargetmarket?



Thetwomostimportantfactsaboutanadvertisingcampaignarethebranditself

–thatis,theproductorservicebeingadvertised–anditspotentialpurchasers,

itstargetmarket.Youmightthinktheformertobefarmoreimportantthanthe

latter, and this would undoubtedly have been the view in years gone by. But

today the two are seen to be symbiotic: the brand and its target market are

inextricablyentwined.



Howcome?Therearethreefactorsinvolved.First,theever-burgeoningdiversity

ofproductsandservicesineveryfieldmeansthateventhelargest,mostpopular

brands are used only by minority segments of the population. Even a massive

supermarket chain like Tesco is used regularly by only about one-third of the

Britishpopulation.Soadvertisersneedtofindouteverythingtheypossiblycan

abouttheexactsegmentofthepopulationtheyaretargeting.Second,thegrowth

ofmarketresearchallowsadvertiserstoknowwhotheirpotentialcustomersare

withmuchgreaterprecisionthanusedtobethecase.Andthird,mediaaudiences

arethemselvesnowsosegmenteditisessentialtospecifythetargetmarketin

ordertoadvertiseinthemediawhichwillreachthemmostcost-effectively.The

dayswhenoneadvertisementinasinglenewspaperliketheNewsoftheWorld

(in1948,theNewsoftheWorldreachedaworld-recordsaleof8,000,000copies

weekly), or on a single channel like ITV, could reach more than 50% of the

Britishpopulationarelonggone.(Today,evenwithmassmedialiketelevision,

differenttypesofpeoplewatchdifferentchannels,differentprogrammes,andat

differenttimesofday:thereisnopointinadvertisingtobusybusinesspeople,

onachanneltheydonotwatch,inthemiddleoftheafternoon,forexample.)



2.EvenamassiveretailchainlikeTescoisusedregularlybyonlyabout

one-thirdoftheBritishpopulation



The outcome of these threefactorshasbeenthatproducts and services are no

longerdesignedandformulatedfor100%ofthepopulation.Theyaredesigned

forspecifictargetmarkets: clearlydefined population sectors,largeand small.

Thisisthebasisofthesymbiosisbetweenthebrandanditstargetmarket.



3.In1948,theNewsoftheWorldreachedaworldrecordsaleof

8,000,000copiesweekly



Toanalyseandunderstandtheirtargetmarkets,allmajoradvertisersnowadays

carryoutconsiderablemarketresearch,honedtotheirownparticularneeds.But

there are also sizable syndicated surveys available, which are continuous, and

whichanyonecanobtainundercontract.Ofthese,probablythemostimportant

istheTargetGroupIndex(TGI).TGIwaslaunchedinBritainin1969,butitis

now a global research operation run in over 50 countries by Kantar Market

Research, a subsidiary of WPP, one of the world’s largest marketing services

conglomerates.



TGItodaycarriesoutover700,000annualinterviewsinthecountrieswhereit

operates,anditidentifiesthedetaileddemographicprofilesoftheusersofover

4,000 brands in more than 500 product fields. It will identify their age, class,

sex, marital status, working status, education, regional habitation, media

consumption,andsocialactivities.ButTGIgoesmuchfurther.Itanalyseseach

brand’sfrequencyofuse:doitsconsumersusethebrandoften(‘heavyusers’)or

infrequently(‘lightusers’)?Itanalysesconsumers’opinionsandattitudesto250

questions covering health, holidays, finance, the environment, and many other

subjects, correlating this invaluable psychographic and personality data with

brandusage.TGIcollectsandprovidesallthisdatabecauseitknowsittobethe

information advertisers, media, and agencies (its own target markets) will

requireinordertolearnasmuchaspossibleabouttheirtargetmarkets.



TheTGIdatahelpsadvertisersandtheiragenciesidentifythoseconsumerswho

arepotentiallythemostlikelysourcesofsales:thetargetmarket.Butitwillalso

revealthetargetmarket’sattitudestothebrand.Whatdoconsumerswantfrom

the brand, and what do they not want? This again reflects the symbiotic

relationship between the brand and its target market. The brand only exists to

provide its target market with what it wants. So let us now explore what

consumerswantfromtheirbrands.



Whatdocustomerswantfromtheirbrands?Factsor

images?



Yet another seemingly simple and silly question, you may feel! Surely people

justwantthethingstheybuytodowhattheysaytheyaregoingtodo,efficiently

andreliably:tobe‘fitforpurpose’,asconsumerprotectionlawsstate.



Not quite. Another effect of the symbiosis between brands and their target

markets has been a shift of emphasis away from product formulations, and

towards end-benefits. Put simply, people do not buy drills because they want

drills, they buy drills because they want holes. Unless you are a metallurgist,

whenyoubuyadrillitsmetallicspecificationwillbeunimportanttoyou.You

don’t care about its metallic specification – you just need some holes. It is

astonishinghowoftenpolicymakersfailtograspthisvitalfact.Takealookata

petfoodpack,forexample.Petfoodmanufacturersarelegallyrequiredtopublish

exact ingredient specifications on their packs – though pet owners care only

about the end-benefits: that their pets will enjoy the petfood and will stay

healthy.Thedetailedspecificationsmeannothingtothem.



And because human beings (and pets) vary, the end-benefits which different

groups of people require from similar products inevitably vary too. So the

different groups comprise different target markets. And advertising campaigns

will need to promote the differing end-benefits that each of the targetmarkets

requires.



Naturally advertisers have always appreciated that different people want

differentthings,andthatpeoplebuygoodsforthebenefitstheyprovide.Butif

you lookatanybook of 19th-century advertisements – tryLeonarddeVries’s

excellentVictorianAdvertisements, for example – you will quickly see that in

thosedaysalmostalladvertisementsconcentratedontheproductitselfandhow

it functioned. Today most advertising campaigns concentrate on end-benefits.

Product ingredients and formulations will only be mentioned to back up and

justifytheend-benefitstheproductprovides.



And–especiallyinanaffluentsociety–thebenefitsthatconsumerswantfrom

products are not only factual and functional. Consumers want and expect

psychologicalandemotional,aswellasfunctional,end-benefitsfromthegoods

theybuy.Yes,theywantthemtofunctionproperly,tobe‘fitforpurpose’,that

goeswithoutsaying.Buttheyalsowanttheirpurchasestomakethemfeelgood,

inanynumberofways.Inadvertisingterms,theywantthebrandimagetobe

rightforthem.Thebrandimageisthehalooffeelingsandemotionsthatbrands

inspire.Consumersmaywanttheimageofabrandtheybuytomakethemfeel

moreglamorous,or younger,orcleverer, orin-the-know.Theymaywanttheir

brand’simagetomakethemfeelmoremasculine,orfeminine,ormorehealthy,

or a more sensible shopper, or a better parent, or more ecologically

conscientious. And these brand image benefits will be crucial to their buying

choices.



Sotheadvertisingcampaignmusttakeaccountofsuchemotivebenefits–and,

onceagain,thesewillvaryfordifferenttargetmarkets.Theadvertisingstrategy

willdefinewhatthetargetmarket’semotiverequirementsare.Andnowadays,in

manyproductfields,itiscustomers’psychologicalandemotiveneeds,asmuch

astheirfunctionalneeds,whichabrandanditsadvertisingmustcaterfor.There

isclearresearchevidencethat‘emotional’advertisementsare,onaverage,more

effectivethanunembellishedfactualadvertisements.Thisisparticularlytruein

those markets – unlike drills – where brand imagery is crucial to consumers,

marketsasdiverseasautomobiles,airlines,andalcohol;clothes,cosmetics,and

carbonateddrinks.



Noneofthisisasnewascriticsofmodernadvertisingcontend.Itisclearthat

sinceearliesthistory,humanbeingshavebeenwellawareoftheimagery–‘the

emotional baggage’ – of the products and clothes they own and display. But

equally, none of this is a charter to produce emotional advertisements that

disregard the product itself. It is absolutely vital for a brand’s image to be

consistent with its functional benefits, and vice versa. Cynics contend that a

cleveradvertisingcampaign canmakethe publicthinkwhatevertheadvertiser

wants them to think about a brand. Not so. No matter how clever it is,

advertisingcannotmakeconsumersthinkaweakbeerisstrong,orasweetwine

isdry– orablunt drillwill make goodholes. Clever(butfoolish) advertising

may persuade consumers to buy the product once, but they will then quickly

discover theyhavebeencheated. The functional and the imagebenefitsthat a

brandoffers,whichtheadvertisingmustaimtocommunicate,mustinterlockas

tightlyaspiecesinawoodenjigsaw.Ifthepiecesdonotfittogetherperfectly,

consumerswillfindthebrandconfusing,thereforeunacceptable,andultimately

self-defeating.Itwouldbeakintoanineffectualleaderpuffinghimselfuplikea

greatemperorandthenfailingtowinabattle.



Finallyinthissection,itisessentialtokeepinmindthediversityofadvertisers

and advertising, already emphasized. Most of the above, for simplicity’s sake,

hasrelatedtotheadvertisingofproducts:goodsratherthanservices.Butinmost

affluent countries, services today account for a major percentage of the gross

nationalproduct.Indeed,thevalueoftheservicesectorisnowoftenlargerthan

thatoftheproductsector.InBritain,forexample,theservicesectoraccountsfor

some two-thirds of the economy: retailers, entertainment, financial services,

travel,andtourismarehugesectors,andhugeadvertisers(seetableonpage33).

Everything written about goods in the paragraphs above applies equally to

services. It is just as important to define the service’s target market (and TGI

covers all major services, as well as products); to define the end-benefits the

service offers; to blend factual benefits with emotional benefits; and to

communicatethedesiredbrandimage.Thesymbiosisbetweenbrandandtarget

marketisfundamentalinallmodernadvertising,whateverisbeingadvertised.



Howareallthesedecisionstaken?



Thebriefandtruthfulansweris:withgreatdifficulty.



JohnHobson,oneofthemostthoughtfulandanalyticalBritishadvertisingmen

of the 20th century, who founded one of the era’s most successful advertising

agenciesin1955,said:



In advertising there are always dozens of ways of doing any job. We

considerthemallandthentestandtestandtestuntilwegettherightone.



Butinthedecadessince1955,myriadsofcampaignshavebeentried–andsome

didthebusiness,whileotherswerefoundlacking.Atthesametime,advertisers

havecarriedoutliterallycountlessmarketresearchstudies.Thisallmeansthat

the‘dozensofwaysofdoinganyjob’canusuallybewhittleddowninadvance,

ifalltherelevantinformationiscarefullystudiedandanalysed.Todaytheprime

responsibilityforstudyingandanalysingthisinformationfallstopeoplewhoare

calledaccountplanners.



Though account planning is now practised globally, it did not come into

existenceuntilaround1970,whentwoLondonadvertisingagenciesdevelopedit

almost simultaneously. The two agencies were J Walter Thomson London, the

UK subsidiary of the giant JWT American agency, now owned by the WPP

conglomerate; and a then infant British agency called Boase Massimi Pollitt,

founded in May 1968. The name ‘account planning’ came from J Walter

Thomson London, and the two agencies developed the system in slightly

differentways.Otheragencieshavesincemadetheirownsmalladjustments,but

thefundamentalsofthesystemareuniversal.



The account planningsystemdemandsthatan account planner – an analytical

researcher–isassignedbytheadvertisingagencytoeveryclient.Theaccount

plannerisnotabackroomboffin,asresearchersinadvertisingagenciesusedto

be,butpersonallyrepresentstheagencytoitsclientsatmeetings,upfront.The

account planner will analyse all the available data about the brand to be

advertised: sales trends, past research, past campaign results, competitors’

activity,consumers’attitudes–everythingmentionedaboveinconnectionwith

theadvertisingstrategyblueprint.Havinganalysedallthedata,accountplanners

arethenresponsiblefordevelopinganddraftingthedetailedadvertisingstrategy:

whataretheaimsandtargetsoftheadvertising,howwillitachievethem?Allof

thiswillneedtobeagreedbytheplanner’scolleaguesintheagency,andthenby

theclient.



With the abundance of data now available, transmuting it all into an effective

advertisingstrategyisnoteasy.Theaccountplannerneedstobehighlycomputer

literateandneedsskill,experience,andinsighttostudymassesofresearchand

sales information, boil it all down to a fewkey conclusions, and deduce from

these exactly what the advertising campaign must communicate, and to which

targetmarket. Simplistic,clichéd conclusionsandobjectivesareuseless.Ifthe

account planner can say nothing more than that the brand is better than its

competitors,andthecampaignmustpersuadethepublicofthisfact,theresulting

advertisingcampaignis likely to be blandtothe point of tedium.Theplanner

must be much sharper and go far deeper. What are the brand’s real functional

andemotionalstrengthsandweaknesses;inwhichrespectsisthebrandbetter(or

worse) than its competitors? How can all this be persuasively communicated?

Whichtargetmarket,ortargetmarkets,mustbepersuaded?Whicharguments–

both rational and emotional – should be deployed to persuade them? Talented

account planners will put flesh on the bare bones of the data, and make the

advertisingstrategyinspiringandexcitingtothosewhowillhavetoputitinto

effect.(Unsurprisingly,thebestaccountplannersarenowadayshighlyrewarded

–andincidentally,ahighpercentageofthemarefemale.)Onlyatthispointwill

theagency’screativeteamsandthemediaspecialistsgototheirstartingblocks

andpreparetogetthecampaignmoving.



Thenextpartoftheaccountplanner’staskisstillmoredifficult.Oncethedraft

advertisingstrategyhasbeenagreed,andputintoaction,itwillbetheaccount

planner’s responsibility to ensure that the resulting campaign meets the

strategy’s stated objectives. However, we would be jumping too far ahead of

ourselvestodealwiththisprocessnow:wewillseehowitworksinChapter7.



First, we must ourselves now do some basic investigation, into the history of

advertising, to show how and why it has developed in the ways it has. It is a

complexandunusualindustrywithmanyseparateparts,andtounderstandhow

advertisingworksitisessentialtodisentanglewhyitissosplitup,andtodefine

whattheseparatepartsdo.



Chapter2

Howtheadvertisingindustryisstructured



Lookbackinwonder



Like most people, you probably believe advertising is a relatively modern

phenomenon – perhaps a century or two old – and that it was invented in

America.Botharetwaddle.



Advertising shop signs existed some 6,000 years ago, and were common in

Romeandthroughouttheancientworld.ButitwastheclassicalAthenianswho

canprobablylayclaimtotheinventionofcommercialadvertisingasweknowit

today. In Athens, town criers, chosen for their mellifluous voices and clear

elocution, strolled through the streets making public proclamations, and

interrupted their proclamations with paid-for advertisements (just as

advertisements interrupt television newscasts today). Aesclyptoe, an early

Atheniancosmetician,usedtowncrierstopromotehislotionsandpotionswith

consummateprofessionalism:



Foreyesthatareshining,forcheekslikethedawn,

Forbeautythatlastsaftergirlhoodhasgone,

Forpricesinreasonthewomenwhoknow

NowbuytheircosmeticsfromAesclyptoe.



This‘jingle’–itwasprobablysung–couldhavesprungyesterdayfromahighly

paidLondonorNewYorkcopywriter’slaptop.



4.ARomanadvertisementforabrothel



Following the Athenians, advertising burgeoned in Rome, Herculaneum, and

Pompeii,whereprostitutes’adscanstillbeseencarvedintothestoneworkofthe

once buried city. Thus was one of the world’s oldest professions linked with

anotheroftheworld’soldestprofessionsfromthestart.



Duringthe‘darkages’afterthefalloftheRomanEmpire,advertisingappearsto

have disappeared. Then it reappeared, in Britain and France during the 13th

century,againbeingsungbytowncriers.Printedadvertisingfollowedhardupon

Gutenberg’sinventionoftheprintingpressinGermanyinabout1450.Thefirst

known printed advertisement in English was published in 1477, printed by

WilliamCaxton,whohadbroughtprintingtoBritainafewyearsearlier.Bythe

start of the 17th century, advertising was already so commonthat in 1712 the

British government introduced a tax of one shilling (a sizable sum) on every

advertisement published in a newspaper. But this tax did little to restrain

advertising’sgrowth.In1759,thegreatlexicographerDrSamuelJohnsonwrote:

‘Advertisements are now so numerous they are very negligently perused.’ An

opinion many people express to this day, without realizing its centuries-old

ancestry.



The government’s 1712 tax was not repealed until 1853, by which time just

undertwomillionnewspaperadvertisementswerebeingtaxedannually.Atthe

same time, a vast number of advertisements were appearing in ‘illegal’

publications,whichwerenotregisteredforthetax,pluslegalandillegalposters

and billboards, and handbills which were pushed into people’s fingers as they

walkedaboutthestreets,alongwithagalaxyofinventedadvertisingideas,many

of them entertainingly eccentric (one company devised a way to shoot

advertisementsintopeople’sgardenswithagun).Unsurprisingly,peoplebegan

complaining,astheyhave complained ever since, that therewasfartoo much

advertising,andthatsomethingneededtobedoneaboutit.Littlewas.



5.In1759,DrSamuelJohnsonwrote‘Advertisementsarenowso

numeroustheyareverynegligentlyperused.’



Initially advertisements were entirely text, without illustration, and were

generallywrittenbythemerchanthimself.But bytheendofthe18thcentury,

specialistsin advertisementwritingbegantoappear, asdid illustrations.These

wereproducedbypeoplecallingthemselves‘advertisingagents’,because they

notonlywroteandillustratedtheadvertisements,theyalsoactedassalesagents

for themedia, selling advertising spaceto the merchants. Almostcertainlythe

firstadvertisingagentinBritain–andintheworld–wasWilliamTaylor,whoso

described himself in an advertisement for his services in 1786. (It is often

claimedthattheAmericanVolneyB.Palmersetupthefirstadvertisingagency

in1842inPhiladelphia,butTaylorpredatedhiminLondonbymorethanhalfa

century.)AndthegreatessayistCharlesLambwasanearlyfreelancecopywriter,

raking in a little extra cash by writing advertisements for his friend, the

advertisingagentJamesWhite,duringtheearly1800s.



The basic three-part structure of the advertising industry in Britain – later to

spread throughout the world – was thus established: advertisers, who bought

space for their advertisements; media, who sold the space; and agencies, who

were middlemen – selling space on behalf of the media, and creating

advertisementsfortheadvertisers.



Theadvertisingtripartite



‘Theadvertisingindustrydoesnotexist’,myfirstbossusedtoquip.Hewasnot,

asyoumaybethinking,sayingthatadvertisingpeoplearenotindustrious:asin

allindustries, someare andsome arenot. Hewas sayingthat thereis nosuch

entityastheadvertisingindustry.Whatpeoplecalltheadvertisingindustryisan

amorphous patchwork of different companies and specializations, broadly

divisibleintoits threebasicsectors–usuallycalledthe‘advertising tripartite’.

Thoughotherwaysoforganizingadvertisinghavebeentriedovertheyears,the

‘advertising tripartite’ structure is now the basis of advertising industries

throughouttheworld, andmaybe assumed tobe the bestand most functional

waytoorganizethecreationandproductionofadvertisingcampaigns.



As in the 19th century, the three legs of the advertising tripartite are the

advertisers,themedia,andtheadvertisingagencies.Letusconsidereachinturn.



First, the advertisers: retailers, manufacturers, finance companies, charities,

governments,lovingsuitorslikeMuscleman,andcountlessothers.Theypayfor

all the advertising, but advertising is not their principal activity. For them,

advertisingisameanstoanend. Itis,aswesaw earlier, oneofthenumerous

means of marketing communication. For many, it will be theirmainmeansof

marketing communication, on which they spend considerable sums of money.

These will generally be advertisers selling high-volume famous brands to the

general public: brands like Coca-Cola, Sony, L’Oreal, Toyota, Tesco, British

Airways, and tens of thousands more. Because their target markets are large,

they will use mass media to reach them, and advertising in mass media is

expensive.Butforotheradvertisers,advertisingwillbeafarsmallercomponent

in their marketing communications mix. These will generally be advertisers

addressing relatively small, tightly defined target markets. Advertisers in this

group will include businesses selling to other businesses rather than to the

public; or selling to hobbyists who read specialist hobby magazines and visit

specialistwebsites;orsellingtopeoplefromanarrowdemographicsectorlike

theveryold,ortheveryrich,orownersofunusualpets;orsellingtoresidentsin

aparticularlocality,inwhichtheadvertisertrades.



Bigorsmall,advertisersarethedrivingforceoftheadvertisingindustry.They

arethepaymasters,theycallthetunes,andtheywanttoseeresults.Yetalmost

nobody who works for an advertiser thinks of themselves as working ‘in

advertising’.Theywork,say,incarbonateddrinks(Coca-Cola),orinconsumer

electronics(Sony),orintoiletriesandcosmetics(L’Oreal),orintheautomobile

industry(Toyota),orinretailing(Tesco),orintravel(BritishAirways).Within

each of those large organizations, there will be people who work full-time, or

almostfull-time,ontheircompany’sadvertising.Butinafewmonthsoryears

these people may well be moved to another department within the company.

Advertisingis,perhapstemporarily,akeypartoftheirprofessionalism,butitis

not their profession. They do not think of themselves as being part of ‘the

advertisingindustry’.



Thesameislargelytrueofthesecondlegoftheadvertisingtripartite,themedia.

The media – in particular, television, print, posters, radio, cinema, and the

Internet – carry and publish advertisements in return for advertisers’ money.

Today the media receive approximately 90% of all the money the advertisers

spend. In the past, the media received 85%, and the remaining 15% went to

advertising agencies as a fixed-rate commission. Nowadays, that fixed-rate

commission system is virtually obsolete. The exact percentages the media

receive,andthe agenciesgetpaid,aresubjecttonegotiation–butonaverage,

agenciesgetabout10%,ratherthan15%,ofthetotal,andthemediareceivethe

rest.



Television, radio, cinema, and posters carry, almost exclusively, display

advertising.PrintmediaandtheInternetcarryamixtureofdisplayandclassified

advertising.Thisisanimportantdistinction. First,becauseapproximately40%

ofprintmedia’sadvertisingrevenuecomesfromclassifieds(thoughmuchofthis

is migrating to the Internet, a key medium for classified advertising). But

second, and more importantly, grasping the different ways in which classified

and display advertisements work is crucial to an understanding of how

advertising works. Put simply, there are advertisements which people look for

(classifieds), and advertisements which look for people (display). Display

advertisementsarenecessarilyintrusive,becausetheymustcatchtheattentionof

peoplenotinitiallyinterestedintheirmessages;classifiedadvertisementsarenot

intrusive, because they rely on people perusing them for items they are

consciouslysearchingfor.



Television, radio, posters, and cinema are, by their very nature as media,

unsuitable for classified advertising (though ‘Teletext’ is a subcategory of

classified).Thispartlyexplainswhythearrivaloftelevisioninthe1950sdidnot

decimate print media in the way many people had predicted: the print media

werebuoyedupbytherevenuefromtheirclassifieds.Equally,itisbecausethe

Internetissoespeciallygoodasasearchmediumthatithasseriouslybitteninto

theclassifiedadvertisingrevenuesofprintmediainthe21stcentury.



Most mass media would not exist if they did not receive hefty revenues from

advertising.TheonlyexceptionsarepublicservicemedialiketheBBC,wholly

funded by the state, and paid for by governments in various ways around the

world. These government-funded media comprise but a small fraction of the

total internationalmediascene. Nonetheless, media that depend on advertising

funding,thevastmajorityofmedia,donotthinkofthemselvesasbeingpartof

the ‘advertising industry’ either. They see themselves as purveyors of news,

information,andentertainment.Theycarryadvertisementstosubsidizeallthis,

sotheycanprovidecheaporevenfreemediaservices.Withinmostmedia,there

isarigorousseparationbetweentheadvertisingandtheeditorialoperations,and

thisisthe way the editorialpeople (and probably thepublic)prefer it. Sothat

althoughtheadvertisersandthemediaarefarandawaythelargestsectorsofthe

advertisingtripartite,forneitherofthemisadvertising‘theirindustry’.



The third leg of the advertising tripartite is the sector that produces the

advertisingcampaigns:theadvertisingagencies.Advertisingagenciescreatethe

advertisements,andonbehalfoftheirclientstheybuythespaceandtimeinthe

media, where the advertisements appear. The agencies are much the smallest

sectorofthe advertisingtripartite,butare theonlysectorthatwhollyrelieson

advertisingfortheirliving.Itisthissectormostpeoplethinkofwhentheytalk

about people who work ‘in advertising’. Certainly everyone who works in an

agency(unlikethosewhoworkforanadvertiserorforthemedia)willsaythey

workinadvertising.IntheUK,agenciesemployabout20,000people–farfewer

than are employed by advertisers, or by the media. The same is true,

proportionately,ineverycountry.



Untilthe1970s,agenciesdidmuchmorethanjustcreateadvertisementsandbuy

media for their clients. They handled almost every aspect of their clients’

marketingcommunications.Theyemployedfarmorepeoplethantheydotoday,

and because they did many different things, they were called ‘full-service’

agencies.Butduringthe1970sthingschangedcompletely.



Thedemiseoffull-serviceagencies



As their name implies, from their inception advertising agents were paid

commissionbythemediaforbringingthembusiness.Butthiscommissionlevel

varied, and was highly competitive. Publications that found it hard to get

advertisingmightpayagentsasmuchas30%forbringingthembusiness;other

agents,operatinginbetterestablishedareas,mightbepaidaslittleas2%or3%.

Before1914,theR.F.WhiteagencyhandledallBritishgovernmentadvertising

forjust2½%commission.Butthemostcommonlevelofcommissionhovered

around15%.



During the first half of the 20th century, in almost all countries, the 15%

commission level became the standard fixed rate of payment for agencies. In

returnforthisfairlygenerouscommissionlevel,agencieswererequiredbythe

media to be principals-at-law, legally responsible for paying the media even

whentheirclientsdefaulted.Agencieswerenotpermittedtorebateanypartof

thecommissiontotheirclients,andagencieswereresponsibleforcreatingand

delivering to the media their clients’ advertisements. Agencies only received

15% commission if they were ‘recognized’ by the media, and agreed to the

media’stermsofbusiness.Inpractice,the15%commissionsystemwasafixed-

priceclosedshop.Thoughitwasnotsurreptitious,andcertainlynotthenillegal,

theentiresystemwas,inaway,agenteelconspiracytoripofftheadvertisers.

Andinmost countries itheldsupreme formorethan halfa century,moulding

andshapingthestructureofadvertisingagencies,andoftheadvertisingindustry,

untilthelate1970s.



Forbidden by the media to rebate commissions to their clients, agencies could

notcompetewitheachotheronprice,andsocompetedbyofferingtheirclients

moreandmoreancillaryservices(nottomentiongenerousentertainments).By

the1920s,creativeandmedia-buyingserviceswereuniversallyacceptedascore

advertising agency activities. But agencies then began to offer their clients an

abundanceofadditionalservices whichwerenot intrinsicallyadvertisingatall

(though most of them were forms of marketing communication). Hence

‘recognized’agenciesbecameknown,andlikedtobeknown,as‘full-service’–

theyprovidedallthemarketingservicesaclientcouldwant.



Thoughitis unlikely any oneagencywould have providedallof these at any

onetime,theraftofservicesadvertisingagenciesthenofferedincluded:



•directmailmarketing

•door-to-doordistribution

•homeeconomistconsultants

•in-storemerchandising

•marketresearch

•newproductdevelopment

•packagedesign

•postersiteinspection

•productsampledistribution

•publicandpressrelations

•salesconferenceorganization

•salespromotion

•tradeexhibitions

Recognized agencies provided these and other services to their clients at cut

prices:theagenciesviewedthemasloss-leaders,designedtohelpthemholdon

totheirclients’businessratherthantomakeadditionalprofit.Thiswaspossible

because the agencies were already making fat profits from their 15%

commissions, which not only covered the cost of creating advertisements and

buyingmediaspace,itsubsidizedthecostoftheseadditionalmarketingservices.

Butallthiscouldnotlast.Twonewdevelopmentscrackedthecosytraditional

system.



First, and in the long run most fundamentally, the leading specialists who

worked in agencies and supplied most of the marketing services listed above

brokeawayandsetuptheirownspecialistcompanies.Withinagenciestheyhad

alwaysbeenpatronized, lookeddownupon bytheadvertising specialists,who

correctlyfeltthattheythemselvesweretheagencies’raisond’être.Butasnew

forms of marketing communication grew both in size and in complexity, the

specialistswhowerereallygoodatthemleftandlaunchedtheirownbusinesses,

to which many clients quickly gravitated. And agencies could not compete

becausetheyhadlongofferedsuchservicestotheirclientsasloss-leaders,atcut

prices, and their clients were unwilling to pay them more. Doubly unwilling

when they realized the best practitioners of these services were leaving the

advertisingagenciestosetupontheirown.



Unlike the other marketing services, media buying had not been a loss-leader.

Mediabuying hadalways beena coreagency service.Nonetheless,thepeople

who worked in media buying were, like the marketing services people,

patronized by the advertising creative people, and were paid far less than the

creative people. They did not like it. Media buying too was becoming big

business,complexandhighlyspecialized.Sointhe1980sthebestmediabuyers

alsobrokeawayfromthe‘full-service’agenciesandsetuptheirownspecialist

shops.Andagain–initiallywithsomehesitation–manyclientsfollowedthem.



Second,atthesametimegovernments,particularlyintheUKandEurope,began

toviewthetraditional15%fixed-ratecommissionsystemasunacceptablyanti-

competitive.InBritainin1976,theOfficeofFairTradingruledthattheagency

recognition and 15% commission system run by the media was in restraint of

trade: illegal. The fixed-rate commission system swiftly disintegrated, and the

‘full-service’agenciesswiftlydisintegratedwithit,splittingintotheirconstituent

parts. Today almost all the old full-service agency functions are handled by

specialist companies. Today the agencies which create and produce

advertisements do little else, and are always called ‘creative agencies’. The

specialists who do little but plan and buy media are called ‘media agencies’.

Bothtypesofagencyaresupportedby‘planners’,whohelpthemcarryouttheir

roles.Buteventheplannersarespecialists.



Paradoxically perhaps, these developments have not been nearly so

thoroughgoing in small agencies which work for small advertisers. Many of

these smaller agencies are still ‘full service’, because they can only operate

profitably by providing a bundle of services to their small clients, and their

clientsdonotwishtopaythehighfeesthespecialistscharge.



And simultaneously a new animal has appeared in the advertising jungle: the

marketing services conglomerate. These are generally mammoth, international

holding companies. They own ‘creative agencies’ and ‘media agencies’, and

numerousothertypesofmarketingcommunicationscompany–marketresearch,

public relations, package design, conference organization, marketing

consultancy,andsoon–throughouttheworld.Andtheykeepallthedifferent

specialists in separate silos. The six largest holding companies, each of which

employs tens of thousands of staff around the globe, are currently Omnicom

(USA), WPP (UK), Interpublic (USA), Publicis (France), Dentsu (Japan), and

Havas(France).Thesecompaniesareoftencalled‘advertisingagencies’.Thisis

acompletemisnomer. Advertisingis only oneof themanymarketing services

theirnumeroussubsidiariesprovide,andnowadaysrarelythedominantone.



Thedigitalrevolution



It might be thought that the separation of creative and media agencies would

have converted the advertising tripartite into an advertising quadrapartite:

advertisers, media, creative agencies, and media agencies. But while these

changes were still being digested, at the end of the 20th century a completely

newdynamicenteredtheadvertisingworld:digital–andparticularlyInternet–

advertising.



Throughout the world, the Internet has swiftly become a major advertising

medium.GlobalInternetadvertisingexpenditurehasrocketedfrom$9billionin

2002toapproximately$70billionby2011.Thishasprovidedboththecreative

andthemediaagencieswithnewopportunities–andnewheadaches.Neitherthe

creationofInternetadvertisements,northebuyingofspaceontheInternet,are

doneinquitethesamewayscreativityandmediabuyingweredoneinthepast.

Agenciesandclients have respondedintwo opposing ways.Onthe one hand,

highlyspecializednewdigitalagencieshavebeenlaunched;ontheotherhand,

many established creative agencies and media agencies have set up digital

‘departments’, often as subsidiary companies, to handle their clients’ digital

advertising requirements.Thejuryisstill out on whether digital advertising is

best handled completely independently, by its own specialists, or best handled

withinestablishedagencies,whereitcanbemoreeasilyintegrated.



6.GlobalInternetadvertisingrocketedfrom$9billionin2002to

approximately$70billionby2011



The old 15% commission and recognition structure had given the media

disproportionate power in the advertising process. Though agencies were

appointedbyadvertiserstohandletheiradvertising,theagenciescouldnottrade

unless they were ‘recognized’ by the media. They had to face both ways,

answeringtobothadvertisersandmedia.Todayallthedifferenttypesofagency

are paid directly by advertisers. The advertisers negotiate their fees, almost

alwaysbasedontheagency’stimecosts,determinedbytimesheetscompleted

byagencystaff.Thefeenegotiationsareincreasinglyhandledbytheadvertisers’

purchasingdepartments:advertisingandmarketingservicesareboughtlikeany

othercommodity.Asmentioned,intotaltheirfeesapproximatetoaround10%

oftheadvertisers’expenditure,aheftysavingofone-thirdagainsttheold15%.

But, it must be remembered, advertisers buy all their other marketing

communications services from other independent specialists. It seems most

unlikelythattheysavemoney,overall.



The large marketing communications conglomerates, like WPP and Omnicom,

try to sell to their clients bundles of the different services they provide. Their

clients rarely buy into this proposition. They prefer to choose and appoint all

their marketing communications suppliers independently and separately. The

clientsthenrequirethemalltoworktogether,tomaximizetheeffectivenessof

their campaigns. Sometimes lines get crossed, and the various independent

companies do not work togetherallthatwell.But there is no confusion about

whoisinchargeoftheshow:theadvertiserswritethecheques,andtheycrack

thewhip.Sowemustnowturntotheadvertisers,andanalysethemandtheways

inwhichtheyoperateinmoredetail.



Chapter3

Advertisers:thepaymasters



Whydoadvertisersadvertise?



The firstandmostimportant decision any advertiser makesis…to advertise.

Many people think large companies have no choice but to advertise. This is

simply wrong. Many of the world’s largest businesses – especially heavy

industrialbusinesseslikesteelmanufacturersorshipbuilders–donoadvertising

atall,orsolittleithardlycounts.Theynormallyhavenoneedtocommunicate

withthepublicatlarge,andtheyhavesofewkeycustomerstheycanreachthem

personally. Someother large companies, of which Google is perhaps the most

famousexample,gettheirnameandwhattheyofferacrosstothepublicinother

waysthanbyadvertising,usually‘wordofmouth’recommendation.Nowadays

thisisoftencalled‘viralmarketing’.Viralmarketingtendstobemostsuccessful

whenabusinessisrelativelyyoungandnewsworthy:evenGooglehadtostartto

advertise, using traditional media, in 2009. (Similarly, Virgin did little

advertisinginitsearlydays,butisnowabigadvertisingspender.)



Otherbusinessesdonotadvertisethemselvesbecausetheyhavenoneedto,but

do advertise their output – movie companies and book publishers are good

examples. With a few exceptions, the public neither knows nor cares which

movie company made a particular movie or which publisher published a

particularbook:theyonlywanttoknowaboutthecontentofthefilmorbook,

andthewriters,stars,andfilmdirectorsinvolved.



Moreover,mostmembersofthepublicbelieve–youmaywellyourselfbelieve

–thattheyarerarely,ifever,influencedbyadvertising.Soifsomecompanies

succeed without advertising, and most people feel they are not influenced by

advertising,whyonearthdoadvertisersadvertise?



Advertisingcostsmoney,andnobusinesslikestospendmoneyunlessithasto.

Thebusinessesintheparagraphaboveknowtheydonothavetospendmoney

onadvertising,sotheydon’t.Thebusinessesthatdoadvertise–thatis,thegreat

majorityoflargebusinesses–believethatitisessentialforthemtodoso.They

believe,indeedtheyareconvinced,thatthebenefitstheyobtainfromadvertising

outweigh the costs, hopefully by a substantial margin. Which, then, are the

businesses that advertise? On page 33 is a breakdown of the top dozen

advertisingsectorsinBritain.



Though there will be national variations, this list will be much the same in

almostall economicallyadvancedcountries–andforthesamereasons. These

businesssectorshaveverylargetargetmarkets,andtheybelieveadvertisingto

be the most cost-effective way to reach these target markets. Despite its

considerable cost, they believe advertising is the least expensive means of

persuadingtheirtargetmarketstobuytheirproducts.Whatisthebasisforthese

seeminglyoptimisticbeliefs?



Ifyouhave read muchaboutadvertising, you willprobably have comeacross

thismaxim:



IknowhalfofallthemoneyIspendonadvertisingiswasted,butIhaveno

meansofknowingwhichhalf.



In Britain, this maxim is usually attributed to the first Lord Leverhulme, the

founder of Unilever; in America, it is attributed to the great retailer Sam

Wanamaker.Infact,thereisnoevidenceeitherofthemsaidit.Itisprobablya

bastardizationofsomethingrathersimilarsaidin1916byAdolphS.Koch,then

thepublisherofTheNewYorkTimes.Themaximsoundsprofoundandpregnant

withmeaning,whichnodoubtexplainswhyithassurvivedforalmostacentury.

Butinrealityitis,assoonasyoubegintothinkaboutit,manifesttosh.What

coulditmean?Thatthefirsthalfofanytelevisioncommercialiseffectivebut

the second half is not? That every alternate second is

effective/ineffective/effective/ineffective…? That the left-hand side of every

billboard works but the right-hand side is useless? The idea is incapable of

analysis. However, the maxim does, tangentially, hint at a key aspect of

advertisingwhichislittleunderstood.



Let us return to the notion of a ‘Golden Key’, which somehow makes some

advertisingsuccessfulwhileotheradvertising(lackingthisnotionalGoldenKey)

is unsuccessful.Orasthe maxim claims: there is advertisingwhichis wasted,

and advertising which is not wasted. The underlying assumption is that

advertising is a game of two halves: advertisingwhich works, and advertising

whichdoesnotwork.Thisbeliefiswidespread,andisnotconfinedtomembers

of the public. It is almost universally accepted by people who work in

advertising–whethertheyworkforadvertisers,themedia,oragencies.Butitis

far, far too simple. Advertising is not a game of two halves; advertising is a

rainbow,oranywayaprismaticspectrum.



Thinkofitthisway.Youwanttosellanoldbike.Soyoubecomeanadvertiser,

and put an advertisement on the Internet or in your local paper’s classified

advertisingsection.Youmaygetanofferfromoneprospectivebuyer,ortwo,or

ten, or maybe even more than twenty – or from any number in between. Of

course,youmaygetnilbuyers,inwhichcaseyoucanarguetheadvertisement

hasdefinitelyfailed,thoughevenhereitmaynotbetheadvertisementassuch

that failed. Many people may have been interested by the advertisement but

decided they didn’t like the details of the bike mentioned: its colour, or its

handlebars,orwhatever.Inanyevent,everylevelofresponseabovenilshows

somelevelofsuccess,fromminimal(one)tomassive(20+).Andanyway,few

commercial advertisers ever run just a single advertisement. They run

campaigns, with lots of advertisements. Almost inevitably, some of the

advertisementsgeneratesomeresponse,howeversmall.Evensomeofthemost

celebrated disaster campaigns in advertising history, like those for Strand

cigarettesinBritainandfortheFordEdselcarinAmerica,soldafewcigarettes

and a few cars. Advertising results, then, are not a black/white division into

success/failure,orwasted/notwasted.Advertisingresultsareacontinuum.



7.Oneofthemostcelebratedcampaigndisastersinadvertisinghistory



Moreover,foradvertisersthekeyquestionisnotmerelywhethertheadvertising

generatedanysales.Thekeyquestionis:didthelevelofsalesmorethancover

the cost of the campaign, and so produce a profit? Because this, or course, is

whyadvertisersadvertise:tomakeaprofit.



Yetagain,thisisnotaneasyquestiontoanswer,becauseadvertisinggenerates–

andadvertisersalmostalwaysintendittogenerate–bothimmediatesalesand

long-termsales.Advertiserswantbothtogetbackthemoneytheyhavespenton

theircampaignfairlyquicklyandtobuildlong-termbrands.Advertiserswant,as

it were, to have their cake and eat it. So this is the final answer to why

advertisersadvertise:torealizeaprofitquitequickly–howquicklyvariesfrom

advertisertoadvertiser–andtomakecontinuingprofitsinthefuture.Andnone

ofthisiseasyforadvertiserstoachieve,letaloneeasytomeasure.



TheIPAAdvertisingEffectivenessAwards



Over recent decades, as financial analysis techniques have grown ever more

sophisticated in all aspects of business, questions of financial accountability

havepredictablygrownevermorecriticaltoadvertisers.Topfinancialdirectors

working for advertisers have grown increasingly powerful within their

companies,andduringthe1970sanewphrase–‘cost-effectiveness’–became

the mantra of the day. The finance directors of major advertisers wanted their

companies’ advertising spends to be proved cost-effective, to show a proven

profitonthecompanybalancesheet.



Responding to their concerns, in the late 1970s a group of leading UK

advertising agency researchers and planners, led by a man called Dr Simon

Broadbent,realized itwasbecomingurgentforagencies tomeet thechallenge

andprovehowcost-effectiveadvertisingcanbe.Broadbent,withanOxfordfirst

andaPhDfromLondonUniversity,hadworkedinChicagoaftergraduating,and

heknewthatadvertisingevaluationhadmademoreprogressinAmericathanin

Britain. In America, in 1961 the Association of National Advertisers – the

advertisers, not the agencies – had published a highly influential short book

called Defining Advertising Goals for Measured Advertising Results

(DAGMAR).DAGMAR,whichisstillbeingregularlyupdatedandrepublished,

setoutclearproceduresformeasuringadvertisingeffectiveness,stressingthatit

wasessentialtospecifyinadvancethemeasurementcriteria,andthemeansof

evaluation, to be used. All this remains equally true today. Following the

publication of DAGMAR, in 1969 the American Marketing Association

launched anawardscompetition called the EFFIES.TheEFFIES awards were

designedtohonourcampaignsthatcouldprovetheyhadbeencost-effective.



Returning to Britain from America, Broadbent naturally knew all about

DAGMAR and the EFFIES. He determined that Britain needed an advertising

effectiveness awards competition of its own. By nature a somewhat academic

businessconsultantratherthanawords-and-picturesadman,Broadbentwanted

theschemetobemorerigorousthantheEFFIES.Andhewantedittoberunby

agenciesratherthanbyadvertisers.In1980,hepersuadedtheBritishagencies’

tradebody,theInstituteofPractitionersinAdvertising(IPA),tolaunchtheIPA

AdvertisingEffectivenessAwards.



IPAAwardswouldbewononlybythecasehistoriesofcampaignsthatshowed

detailed sales results, encoded for confidentiality if necessary. The papers

enteredwouldneedtorevealexactlyhowthesaleshadbeenmeasured,andwhat

marketresearchhadbeencarriedouttovalidatethem.(Wewillexploreallthis

further in Chapter7.) Every agency entry would have to be signed off by the

advertiser, who would authenticate its accuracy. The case histories would be

judgedbyajuryofeminentacademicsandbusinesspeople,aswellasbymarket

researchersand leadingagencypeople. InBroadbent’swords,the creativity of

the advertisements would play no part whatsoever in the competition. Indeed,

rathersurprisingly,theadvertisementscouldnotbepartoftheentry.



TheIPAAwardshadfouraims:topersuadedoubtersandcynicsthatadvertising

iseffectiveandmeasurable;topersuadeadvertisers–andespeciallyadvertisers’

finance directors – that agencies are serious about sales and profitability, and

don’tcarejustaboutself-indulgentcreativity,asisoftensuspected;topersuade

agencies that producing cost-effective advertising can be good for their

reputations;andtoencouragebestpracticeincampaignplanningandevaluation.

Over the succeeding three decades, those four aims have been achieved

triumphantly.



Since1980,some1,000casehistorieshavebeenenteredfortheIPAAwards.In

aggregate,theyprovidearichdatabankofdifferentbrandsandmarkets–large

andsmall,nationalandregional,consumerandspecialist.The400winningand

commendedpapersarepubliclyavailablefromtheIPAdatabank,fromtheWorld

AdvertisingResearchCenterwebsite(http://www.warc.com),andinbookform.

Togethertheycomprisethelargest,mostcomprehensive,andmostauthoritative

collection of successful advertising case histories available anywhere in the

world.TheIPAAwardsdonotprovethatalladvertisingiscost-effective.Aswe

saw in the preceding section, this is not true, nor could it ever be. But they

demonstrateconclusivelythatwell-plannedadvertisingcanbe,andfrequentlyis,

extremelycost-effective.



Aboveall,theIPApapershaveshownthatadvertisingnotonlyworks,butworks

in a cornucopia of different ways. The list of advertisers’ various possible

campaignobjectivesthatisshownonpages5–6isderivedfromthem,asisthe

factthatthe ‘average’campaignhassome2.5objectives. Thoughitwasnever

their intention, the IPA Awards have demonstrated why no ‘Golden Key’ will

everbefound–andtheyhaveprovedthat,althoughalmostnobodyadmitsthey

areinfluencedbyadvertising,whethertheylikeitornot,theyare!



Buildingprofitablebrands



Excellentastheywere,theIPAAwardsinitiallyhadaseriousflaw.Forthefirst

decade, the entriesconcentratedon relatively short-term sales results, showing

howwelltheadvertisinghadworkedoverperhapsacoupleofyears.Butaswe

saw earlier, advertisers generally want both short-term and long-term results.

Advertiserswant,andindeedneed,theircampaignsbothtogenerateimmediate

salesandtobuildlong-termbrands.



Once again, it was Dr Simon Broadbent who identified this problem. In

September1988,hepublishedaninfluentialarticleinwhichhewrote:‘TheIPA

Awards should introduce a class of entries which is about the long-term …

effectsofadvertising.’Twoyearslater,in1990,anappropriatenewIPAAwards

categorywasintroduced.ThefirstwinnerwasPGTipsTea.Thewinningpaper

was titled‘PGTips’ 35 CompetitiveYearsatthe Top of the Tea Market’, and

chronicledthestoryoftheoftenhilarious,long-runningPGchimpscampaign,in

which chimpanzees were endowed with human personalities and voices, and

swigged down their PG tea with gusto. Since then, other successful long-term

campaignshavebeenanintegralpartoftheIPAAwards.



For advertisers, the embodiment of long-term sales is the brand. Brands first

appearedinVictoriantimes,andnumerousVictorianbrandsstillexistafter200

yearsormore–thattrulyislong-termsalessuccess!Bovril,Cadbury,Colman’s,

Crosse and Blackwell,Lea& Perrins, Oxo, Rowntree, Schweppes, TheTimes,

and Wright’s Coal Tar soap, to mention but a handful, are among the British

brands that have achieved double-century longevity. Many of these brands

recognizedtheimportanceofadvertisingfromthestart,andbythe1890smost

wereemployingadvertisingagencies.Inthatdecade,PearsSoaproutinelyspent

over £100,000 annually on advertising, its budget having grown by leaps and

bounds from a mere £80 in 1875. Frances Pears, the chairman of the family

business, resigned as he was petrified that such huge advertising expenditures

wouldbankruptthecompany.Instead,theadvertisingbuiltoneofthefirstgreat

soapbrands.



8.ThechimpshelpedmakePGTipsthebrandleaderintheteamarket

for35years



9.Someleadingbrandshaveexistedforover200years



What, then, is a brand? Brands and branding started out as a way for

manufacturers to help customers recognize their products, and to buy them

because they were consistent and reliable in an era of adulterated goods and

unevenqualitycontrol.However,todaytheconceptofabrandhasbecomefar

morecomplexthanthat.Todaytheremustbealmostasmanydefinitionsasthere

arebrandsintheworld.However,allagreethatabrand,oranywayasuccessful

brand,mustmeetthefollowingfourcriteria:



1)Thebrandwillhaveauniquenameandpackaging,andusuallyalogo,

allofwhichwillbeeasilyandinstantlyrecognizablebyitstargetmarket.

2) It must be perceived by its target market to have qualities which

differentiate it from other, similar brands. (This is called its brand

positioning:thesequalitiesdefineitspositionrelativetootherbrandsin

itsmarket.)

3) The qualities will be both functional and emotive: its purchasers will

boththinkandfeelthebrandisdifferentfrom,andintheireyessuperior

to,others.

4) These perceptions will allow the brand to command a premium price

above unbranded, commodity products, and thus to generate greater

profitsforthecompanythatownsit.

Brands do not necessarily need to be more expensive than their competitors:

todayretailers’ownbrandsareusuallycheaper,butareseenbytheirpurchasers

to be excellent value, that is the way such brands are superior. Brands do not

necessarily need to be superior in quality to their competitors: in terms of

quality, popular family cars cannot compete with Porsches and Bentleys, but

againtheyareseenbytheirpurchaserstobeexcellentvalue,andthatistheway

theyaresuperior.



Clearlytheconceptofvalueisintrinsictotheconceptofabrand.Thisisbecause

value,likebeauty,isintheeyeofthebeholder.Itisthequalitiesthatarevalued

bythebrand’spresentandfuturecustomers–itstargetmarket–whichmatter.

Thesemayormaynotbethequalitiesthetechniciansinthelaboratoriesbelieve

matter; they may or may not be the qualities that experts and pundits believe

matter.Itisthetargetmarketthatchooseswhatmatters,andwhatitiswillingto

payfor.Itschoiceswillbeinfluencedbyexperienceoftheproduct(orservice);

bytheadvertising; by othermarketingcommunications; by media publicity of

allkinds;andbypersonalrecommendations.Iftheseblendtogethertogivethe

brandastrongandpositivereputation–astrongandpositivebrandimage(page

12) – the brand is destined for success. Perception, reputation, image are the

essenceofabrand.Theyarethereasonspeoplebuy(ordonotbuy)thebrand.

Andmorecrucially,theyarethereasonspeoplecontinue(ordonotcontinue)to

buythebrandagainandagain.



Ifabrand’sreputation,itsimage,issufficientlystrong,itssuccessmaycontinue

fordecades,oreven,aswehavejustseen,forcenturies.Butthiswillonlyoccur

ifthebrandowner–theadvertiser–continuouslynurturesthebrand,ensuring

thatitconstantlyandunremittinglyoffersgoodvaluetoitstargetmarket.Inthe

fast-changingandhighlycompetitiveworldinwhichwelive,thiswillnotoccur

by happenstance. It will demand persistent effort and careful management,

continuingbranddevelopment andimprovement.Butallthisiswell worththe

effort. Brands can be the keystones upon which the long-term success of

companiesisbuilt.Brandsensurethattheprofitsmadebyadvertisingcampaigns

are not fly-by-night: the campaigns deliver profits almost immediately and

profitsinthefuture–exactlywhatadvertisersrequireinordertobuildhealthy

long-termbusinesses.



Onefinalpointonthe subjectof branding.Nowadaysbrands areso important

that most advertising people, both in and out of agencies, talk as though all

advertisingisbrandadvertising,designedtoproducelong-termaswellasshort-

termresults.Thoughthisisgenerallythecase,itisnotuniversallytrue.Think

againofthat oldbikeadvertisement(page 34).Oncethebikeissold,that’sit:

jobdone.Similarly,afairamountofdirectresponseadvertising,selling goods

directly from the page or off the screen, is instant, and not really branded.

Customersrespond toeach individualadvertisement,andother customersmay

respondtothe nextone.Thecompanieswhorunsuchadvertising will,ifthey

aregoodattheirbusiness,goonandon,runningofferafteroffer.Buttheymay

notbother,orwant,tobuildthemselvesasbrands.Theyhavenoneedto.



Thisisanothertellingexampleofhowvariedanddisparateadvertisingcanbe.

Inthegreatadvertisingfirmament,however,suchadvertisersoccupybutatiny

niche. Brands are the stars and galaxies which glitter and gleam throughout

advertising’sskies.



Chapter4

Themedia:blowingtheadvertisers’trumpets



Themediaspectrum



Wenowcometothesecondpartoftheadvertisingtripartite:themediathatcarry

the advertisements.Onceagain,wemustbegin by carefully defining what the

mediaare,especiallybecause‘media’hasbecomesomethingofajargonwordin

recenttimes,muchabusedandmisused.Duringthelast100yearsorso,boththe

numberandthevarietyofmediahaveexploded.Awidespectrumoftotallynew

mediahavearrived,andoldermediahavedividedandsubdividedthemselvesto

reachevermorespecificgroups,incarefullytargetedways.Andwiththemore

recent arrival of the Internet and of digitization, the entire advertising media

scenehasfounditselfinastateofconsiderableflux.Sincethebeginningofthe

21st century, media throughout the world have been constantlychanging. It is

almostanybody’sguesswherethesechangeswilleventuallyendup(andalmost

everybodyinthemediaiswillingtoofferaguessortwo).Thebestthatcanbe

done here, therefore, is to give a clear picture of the media as they are today,

withsomehintsastowhatthefuturemaybring.



Mediais,ofcourse,simplytheLatinpluralformofthesingularnounmedium.

Mediumhasseveraloverlappingmeanings,butintheOxfordEnglishDictionary

youwillfindtherelevantdefinitiontobe:



Any intervening substance through which a force acts on objects at a

distanceorthroughwhichimpressionsareconveyedtothesenses.



Thisalmostexactlydefineswhatamediumisinadvertising:‘Anyintervening

substance … through which impressions are conveyed to the senses.’ The

impressions are the advertisements, and the leading media conveying them to

oursensesarethenewspapers,magazines,television,radio,directmail,posters

andtransport,cinema,andtheInternet.



Naturally,advertisershavetopaythemediaforconveyingtheirmessages.And

this leads us to the three basic criteria by which advertisers judge the

effectivenessofalladvertisingmedia:



1) How many people in the advertiser’s target market does the medium

reach?And–usingmarketresearch–whatkindofpeoplearethey?

2) How much does it cost to use the medium? (And compared with

alternativemedia,isitthebestpossiblevalueformoney?)

3) How powerful and persuasive is it as an advertising medium –

particularlyforthespecificgoodsorservicesbeingadvertised?

Inthischapter,wewillmainlybelookingatadvertisingmediaintheUK.But

thesethreequestionsarefundamentaltoalladvertisingmedia,aroundtheglobe.

ToexplorethemwewillnowconsidereachofthemainUKadvertisingmedia

sectors, looking first at their relative sizes, as measured by the amounts of

advertising money spent with each of them. Their relative sizes vary from

country to country, but these key media, often called the ‘prime media’ in

advertising,areimportanteverywhere.



Itwillreadilybeseenthatinlittlemore thanadecade,theInternethaswona

massiveshareoftheadvertisingmarketintheUK–asithasineverycountryin

the world. Most of its gains have come in the form of ‘search’ advertising –

where you click-through from sponsored listings to promotional websites.

Internet search advertising is akin to traditional classified advertising, and the

Internethasgained most ofitssearch advertisingatthe expense ofnewspaper

andmagazineclassifiedadvertisingsections.ButInternetdisplayadvertising–

banners,pop-ups,andthelike– hasalsosteadilygaineddisplayrevenuefrom

thetraditionalmedia,thoughnottoanythinglikethesameextentas‘search’has

done.Evenaftermorethanadecade’sexistence,nobodycantellhowlargethe

Internet’s share of advertising will eventually grow to become, nor, by

implication, how hard the traditional media will eventually be hit. But the

general consensus is that the Internet’s advertising growth will continue for

manyyearsyet.



Havingsaidwhich,thelongerestablishedmediastillreceivemorethan80%of

alladvertisingexpenditure,andsoitisthesethatwewillconsiderfirst.



Pressandmagazines



Contrarytomostpeople’sperceptions,with31%ofallrevenue,printmediaare

stillthe biggestmediasector. Themoney spentinpress andmagazines breaks

down:



Nationalnewspapers

With11majornationaldailiesandthesamenumberofnationalSundays,Britain

hasthestrongestandmostdiversenationalpressintheworld:

Nationaldailies(readby44%oftheUKadultpopulationintotal)



DailyExpress

DailyMail

DailyMirror

DailyRecord(Scotland)

DailyStar

DailyTelegraph

FinancialTimes

TheGuardian

TheIndependent

TheSun

TheTimes



NationalSundays(readby48%oftheUKadultpopulationintotal)



IndependentonSunday

MailonSunday

NewsoftheWorld

People

SundayExpress

SundayMail(Scotland)

SundayPost(Scotland)

SundayTelegraph

SundayTimes

TheObserver



This galaxy of national newspapers provides advertisers with a plethora of

choice unparalleled in other countries. The UK circulations of these papers

variesfromthelargest,theNewsoftheWorld(3,087,000)downtothesmallest,

theFinancialTimes(134,000).Nowadaysmarketresearchdata(liketheTarget

Group Index, see page 10) provides a vast amount of information about the

readersofeach newspaper. Advertisers can thusselectfor their campaignsthe

papers that are specifically read by their target markets. The cost of buying

advertising space is broadly proportional to the size of the circulation, but the

qualitypapers–suchastheFinancialTimesandTheTimes,theSundayTimes

and Sunday Telegraph – can charge higher prices because they provide

advertisers with more affluent and more influential readers. And because a

significantproportionofadvertiserswanttheircampaignstoreachaffluentand

influential people, they are willing to pay a premium price to advertise in the

papersthesepeopleread.



The cost of the advertising will also be determined by the size of the

advertisement, whether or not it is in colour, and its whereabouts in the

newspaper. Larger advertisements cost more than smaller ones, but the cost is

notdirectlyproportionaltosize:toencourageadvertiserstobuybiggerspaces,

smaller advertisements are generally slightly more expensive pro rata. Colour

advertisementsaremoreexpensivethanblackandwhiteones:historically,this

was because colour used to cost more to print – today the printing cost

differentials are small, and the price differentials simply reflect supply and

demand. Similarly, newspapers charge more for advertisements in certain

positions,positionswhichmanyadvertiserswantbecausetheyarelookedatby

more readers of the publication, or by their particular target market (sports

products on sports pages, for example); obviously the cost of printing the

advertisements does not change with the position – again, the different prices

simplyreflectsupplyanddemand.



With so many newspapers to choose from, and so much choice within each

newspaper,thebuyingandsellingofspaceinnewspapersisextremelyflexible,

and subject to considerable negotiation. For the advertiser, the key factor in

makingthefinalselectionwillbethecostperthousandreaders.Thisfigureis

thecostofthechosenspace–largeorsmall,colourormonochrome,wherever

positioned – per 1,000 readers in theadvertiser’s target market. Media buying

specialistswillcalculateexactlyhowmuchitcoststoreachthisnotional1,000

targetreadersinalltheavailablenewspapers.Theywillthenbeabletomakean

objective cost comparison between all the possibilities, and unless there are

special circumstances, the media specialist will advise the advertiser to place

theircampaigninthecheapestnewspaperornewspapers.



This cost per thousand calculation, suitably adjusted, applies in all media –

whetheritbecostperthousandreaders,ortelevisionviewers,orradiolisteners,

or (in the case of direct mail) addressees. It is seldom a helpful device when

makingcomparisonsbetweenmedia:youcannotsensiblycomparethecostper

thousandforatelevisioncommercialwiththecostperthousandforamagazine

advertisement–the effects ofthedifferentmediaaretoodisparate.Butwithin

anyonemediasector,costperthousandisthesinglemostpotentweaponinthe

mediabuyer’sarmoury.Providedyouminimizethecostofreachingyourtarget

market,asanadvertiseryouwon’tgofarwrong.



Regionalnewspapers

In the USA and many other countries, where there are very few national

newspapersandtheircirculationsarequitesmall,regionalnewspapersareeven

moreimportantasadvertisingmediathantheyareinBritain.However,evenin

Britain,thereareover1,100regionalnewspapersand,ascanbeseenabove,to

many people’s surprise they carry more advertising than the national

newspapers.Thisisbecausetheyare,intotal,readbysignificantnumbersofthe

population.

Most of the regionals’ advertising revenue comes from national retailers and

local advertisers. With the exception of retailers, national advertisers rarely

advertiseinregionalpapers.Thisisbecausethecostperthousandinregionalsis

farhigherthanitisinthenationals.Thecostperthousandcirculationofafull-

pageadvertisement(blackandwhite)issixtimeshigherintheregionalBristol

Evening Post than in the national Sun, for example. Other regional versus

national newspaper comparisons would be similar. This is why, in the UK,

nationaladvertisersalmostalwaysusenationalnewspapers,exceptwhenthereis

aspecificreasontoadvertiselocally.



While,ashasbeensaid,comparingcostsperthousandbetweendifferentmedia

sectorscanbeunreliable–tosomedegree,youwillalwaysbecomparingapples

withoranges–itisnonethelessimportanttoknowthatthecostperthousandis

nowadaysoftencheaperforInternetadvertisingthanitisfornewspapers.Thisis

akeyreasonwhysomuchadvertisingexpenditureismigratingfromnewspapers

totheInternet.InboththeUKandtheUSA,thepreviouslystrongnetworkof

regionalnewspapersisunderseverecompetitivethreatfromtheInternet,andin

consequencethelong-termfutureofregionalnewspapersis,atpresent,farfrom

assured.



Consumermagazines

Foradvertisers,consumermagazinescanbroadlybedividedintotwogroups:



•Generalinterestandwomen’smagazines

•Specialinterestandhobbymagazines

Asmightbeexpected,thefirstgrouphaverelativelyhighreadershiplevels,just

belowthoseofthenationalpress.



Thereadershipsofspecialinterestandhobbymagazinesarefarsmaller.Somost

of the major national advertisers who use magazines for their campaigns use

general magazines – such as the Radio Times (circulation 1,046,726) – or

women’s magazines – such as Good Housekeeping (circulation 430,971).

Specialinterestandhobbymagazines’circulationsusuallyfallinthe50,000to

100,000bracket.Moreover,althoughtheiradvertisingratesarerelativelylow,as

withregionalnewspaperstheircostsperthousandcirculationarerelativelyhigh

–almost alwaysexceeding thoseofthegeneralandwomen’s magazines.Still,

for advertisers whose target markets are specific – minority sectors of the

population, like anglers or amateur photographers – specialist magazines are

ideal,andtheyareabletosellspaceatapremiumpricetoadvertisersaimingat

thoseveryspecific,relativelysmallmarkets.



As with newspapers, magazines charge more for larger than for smaller

advertising spaces, more for colour than for black and white, and more for

specially prized positions: at the front of the magazine or facing editorial

articles, for example. However, one important advantage magazineshave over

newspapers is that they lie around far longer (think of the ancient issues you

sometimes find in dentists’ waiting rooms!). This longevity means they

accumulate far more readers per copy than newspapers do. As a result, their

readerships are far higher than their circulation numbers suggest. Readership

datafrommarketresearchsurveys showsthatVogue,forexample,hassome6

readers per copy, while Golf World has a massive 12.5 readers per copy. No

newspaperhasthatmanyreaderspercopy.Andasadvertisersaregenerallymore

interested in total readership numbers than in simple circulation numbers, the

costperthousandreaders,aswellasthecostperthousandcirculation,willbe

animportantfactorinfluencingthechoiceofwhichnewspapersandmagazines

touseforanycampaign.



Tradejournalsanddirectories

The two remaining major groups of publications in the print sector, trade and

professional journals and directories, together carry some 22% of all print

advertising expenditure – so are larger than the consumer magazine sector,

thoughthelatterhasamuchhigherprofileformajoradvertisers.

Thereasonfor their lowprofileis thatneithertrade and professionaljournals,

nordirectories, areseenasgeneraladvertisingmedia.Their rolesarefarmore

specific. As with specialist and hobby magazines, they are ideal for reaching

theirparticulartargetmarkets.Tradeandprofessionaljournalswillthereforebe

used extensively by advertisers wishing to reach, for example, doctors or

dentists, builders or engineers. There are some 2,000 trade and professional

journalsintheUK,coveringalmosteverytradeandprofessionalsectoryoucan

thinkof,withcirculationsusuallyinthe20,000to50,000bracket.



Directories,incontrast,havemassivecirculations,andevenlargerreaderships.

Over30millionpeoplein theUKconsult YellowPagesannually.Butthevast

majority of advertisements in directories are ‘listings’ – and listings are like

newspaper classifieds: advertisements which people look for, rather than

advertisementswhichlookforpeople.Theydonotthereforeinvolveadvertising

skillsinthesamewaythatdisplayadvertisementsdo.However,itmustnotbe

forgotten that there are also a fair number of display advertisements in

directories, some of them from major national advertisers – and these call for

muchthesameskillandinputasdisplayadvertisementsinotherprintedmedia.



Wehavenowcompletedouranalysisofprintedadvertisingmedia.Itistimeto

takealookattelevision.



Television



In the public mind, throughout the world, television is the archetypical and

predominantadvertisingmedium.Indeed,whenmembersofthepublicareasked

wheretheyhaveseenanyadvertisement,thelikelihoodistheywillsaytheysaw

itontelevision–eveniftheadvertisementhasneverappearedontelevision.(A

perfect illustration of the fallibility of people’s memories, and a warning that

marketresearchresultsmustalwaysbeinterpretedwithcaution.)



Commercialtelevision–televisionfundedbyadvertising–startedintheUSAin

the1930s,butdidnotbegininBritainuntil1955,andinBritainitwasthought

fromthestarttobesopowerfulthatitneededtobecontrolledbyparliamentary

statute.Whileothermediaarepermittedtopublishasmuchadvertisingasthey

wish(thoughpostersitesarecontrolledbylocalauthorities),the1954Actwhich

set up British commercial television ensured that the quantity, timing, and

content of advertisements would be controlled by statutory bodies. Not until

December 2003 did Ofcom – the governmental regulator now responsible for

Britishcommercialtelevision–subcontractcontrolofthecontentoftelevision

advertisements.However,Ofcomretainedcontrolofthequantityofadvertising,

andofitsoveralltiming.



The consequences of this government control have been considerable, and are

entirely foreign to other media in the UK – though television advertising is

subject to similar constraints in many countries of the world (excluding the

USA). In the UK, the limit on the number of minutes that can be devoted to

advertisementsinanyhourhasinfluencedthecostoftelevisionadvertising;the

controlofthecontentoftelevisionadvertisementshasmadeitnecessaryforall

commercialstobeapprovedbeforetheyaretransmitted,bothinscriptformand

whenfinallyproduced(unlikeadvertisementsinothermedia);thecontrolofthe

timingofadvertisinghasallowedthegovernmenttoensurethatcommercialsfor

certainproductswillnotbetransmittedattimesitdeemsinappropriate(mainly,

this means that commercials it is felt children ought not to see must not be

transmitteduntillateintheevening).



Initially, the UK government sought to build up a regional television

broadcasting structure by assigning separate contracts to different regional

companies, each of which –likealocalnewspaper– covered its own allotted

areaoftheUK.Thissystemworkedwellatfirst.Butfromthe1960sonwards,a

raftofadditionalcommercialchannelswerelaunched–firstChannel4,then5,

GMTV,Sky,andahostofothersatellitebroadcasters–atwhichpointtheold

regional structure became hopelessly blurred. Today over 600 terrestrial,

satellite,andcabletelevisionstationsbroadcastintheUK,thegreatmajorityof

them reaching tiny, specialized viewing audiences but covering the entire

country.AllmustbelicensedtobroadcastbyOfcom,andpayOfcomafeefor

theirlicence.



However, the largest television audiences still gravitate towards the long-

establishedterrestrialstations. Thisoccurseven in the40%of UK homesthat

receivebothterrestrialandsatellitechannels:



The fragmentation of television audiences during recent decades, which has

happenedthroughouttheglobeasnewchannelshavebeenlaunchedeverywhere,

hascausedadvertisersmuchconcern.Advertiserslookbacknostalgicallytothe

years when a single spot transmission would be seen by the majority of the

populationatonefellswoop.(ThiswastrueevenintheUSA,wheretherehave

always been far more channels than in European countries.) This made the

televisionadvertisingofmassconsumerproductsrelativelystraightforward–not

tosayeasy–whereastodayitisnecessaryforadvertiserstobuildupcoverage

of their target markets over time, by advertising on a host of channels with

separate audiences. Still, it is arguable that advertisers worry rather too much

aboutthisproblem, asadvertisinginothermediahasalwaysbeenfragmented.

Moreover, advertisers gain considerable benefits from the price competition

between the numerousbroadcastingstations.And television remains much the

fastest way to build up public awareness of a new brand or a new campaign.

Seldomdoesanewbrandornewcampaignthatsolelyusesothermedia,without

usingtelevision,reachhighlevelsofpublicawarenessveryquickly.



Television isalsothe mostthoroughlyresearched of allthe media. Inthe UK,

viewership data is provided by the Broadcasters’ Advertising Research Board

Limited(BARB),acompanysetupbytheadvertisingindustrytoproviderobust

and trustworthy information to all interested parties. BARB subcontracts the

collectionofthisinformationtoseveralresearchcompanies.Themostbasicdata

iscollectedfromasampleof5,100homes,inallofwhichmetersareconnected

totheirtelevisionsets.Thesemetersrecordcontinuouslywhetherornottheset

ison,whichchannelitistunedto,andwhenchannelsarechanged.These5,100

homesrepresentsome11,300residents.Anadditional52,500individualviewers

are interviewed annually, and their viewership data correlated with the 5,100

meterrecords.Viewershipresultsfromthemetersarepublishedonaminute-by-

minutebasis,and thedatais processedovernightto be releasedat 9.30am the

followingmorning.



As with other media, the key tool in the advertiser’s television time-buying

toolbox is the cost per thousand target viewers. The BARB research system

meansthatinmanywaysthebuyingoftelevisionadvertisingtimeisbothmore

accurateandmorecomplexthanthebuyingoftimeinprintmedia,becausefar

more is known about the ways viewers watch than is known about reading

patterns. The exact composition of television audiences, broken down by age,

sex,employment,region,familycomposition,buyinghabits,andotherdata,can

be continuously analysed. For example, viewers’ programme switching can be

trackedthroughoutanevening;andthedifferentviewingpatternsinhouseswith

multiplesetscanlikewisebemeasured.Allthismakesitpossibletopinpointthe

televisionviewingoftargetmarketswithgreataccuracy.Themediabuyerwill

then be able to evaluate precisely, on a cost per thousand basis, which

programmes,andevenwhichbreaksinwhichprogrammes,willreachthetarget

marketmost cost-effectively. Thereare greatdifferencesinprice,forexample,

betweenpeak-time(mid-evening)andoff-peak (early, late,anddaytime)spots,

and the differences approximately reflect the size and composition of the

audiences.



Still, it must not be thought that all this makes the buying of television

advertising robotic. Viewers often fail to watch programmes they have been

predicted to watch, and inter-channel competition can make audience levels

unpredictable. Nonetheless, television time buying is probably the most

sophisticatedsystemofmassmediaadvertisingbuying,theworldover.



Before leaving television, two myths need to be dispelled. First, it is widely

believed that the advent of the Internet has resulted in television viewership

falling. There is no evidence of this happening; on the contrary, though

fragmentation has meant that each individual channel’s viewership has fallen,

totaltelevisionviewing–intermsofnumberofhoursperweek–continuesto

increase, steadily if slowly. Second, it is widely believed that the advent of

Video-on-Demand, and the use of zappers, results in people zapping through

commercials,totheadvertisers’disadvantage.Again,theevidenceshowsthisto

betheoppositeofthetruth–partlybecauseV-o-Dencouragespeopletowatch

moretelevision,andpartlybecauseonlyatinyminorityofviewerszapthrough

commercials,andthenonlyoccasionally.Despitetheincreasingcompetitionin

allmedia,thefutureoftelevisionadvertisingseemsassured.



Minormedia



Ascanbeseenfromthetableonpage47,excludingtheInternet,theremaining

media–directmail,radio,outdoorandtransport,andcinema–accountforjust

21%oftotal advertising expenditurebetween them, andsowe must dealwith

them quite briefly. This is not to minimize their effectiveness as advertising

mediaformany products, and formanytargetmarkets.Indeed, their strengths

oftenlieintheirspecificity.Buttheygenerallylackthemassimpactofthemore

majoradvertisingmedia,whichiswhytheytendtocarrylessadvertising.



Directmail

Withits12%shareoftotalexpenditure,directmailiscurrentlythefourthlargest

advertisingmediumin theUK.(It isamuch largeradvertising mediumin the

USA, mainly because of the dearth of strong national daily newspapers there.

The mail is an inexpensive means of distributing advertising messages

throughoutthevastterrain.)

BeforethearrivaloftheInternet,directmailwasthesolemeansofidentifying

individuals personally, and usually by name – and it remains a most effective

‘personal’ medium.Thisoften makes itpossible to communicate with specific

target markets with great accuracy. Over the years, advertisers and companies

thatspecializeinprovidingdirectmail‘lists’havebuiltupindividualizedlistsof

the users of many products. While a small proportion of the public complains

about what they call ‘junk mail’, the reality is that the vast majority of the

populationacceptitwithoutobjection,andoftenrespondtoit.



This is known, and can be evaluated, because direct mail is one of the most

measurablemedia.Becauseitissopersonalized,theresponsetomostmailings

canbe,andis,exactlyquantified.Costsandresultscanbecompared,andcost-

effective mailings can thus be virtually guaranteed to produce profitable

businessfortheadvertiser,whichhappensinnoothermedium–except,aswe

shallsee,theInternet.



Outdoorandtransport

Most peoplearesurprisedto learn that this sector –billboards,posters, public

transport advertising, and the like – is as small as it is, with only 5% of total

expenditure.Thepublicfeelsitseesadvertisinghoardingseverywhere–andthis

is true in the centres of most towns. But elsewhere there are relatively few

hoardings, not least because the placement of outdoor advertising is strictly

controlledbylocalauthorities.

Posterscanbeplacedwithprecisionlocally,andsoarefrequentlyusedbylocal

(rather than national) advertisers. Throughout history, posters have given

designers and writers theopportunitytobe wonderfully creative, and many of

thecampaignswhichpeoplerememberforyearsstartlifeonthehoardings.But

sincethearrivalofcommercialtelevisionover50yearsago,outdooradvertising

hascometobeseen,unfairly,asa‘support’medium,aremindermedium,andis

nowonlyoccasionallyusedastheprincipalmediumforamajornewcampaign

orproduct.



10.Mostpeoplearesurprisedbillboardsandpostershaveonlyasmall

shareoftheadvertisingmarket



Radio

Radio too tends to be seen as a support or reminder medium. Being another

broadcast medium, it is also often seen, again unfairly, as ‘cheap television’.

Thisiswrongbecause–althoughradioiscertainlyamuchcheaperadvertising

medium than television – it is not truly comparable. Television is

quintessentially a visual medium: above all, people remember, and are

influencedby,whattheysee.Bydefinition,radioisnotvisual,andsorequiresa

completely different creative approach, based on words and sounds. But used

imaginatively,wordsandsoundscanproduceextremelyeffectiveadvertising.

Radioaudiencesarealsofarsmallerthantelevisionaudiences,andmuchmore

locallyfocused.Soradiocan,likeposters(andcinema),beusedtogreateffect

bylocaladvertisers.



Cinema

Cinemaisalsofrequentlyusedasasupportmedium,another‘differentformof

television’.Butcinema’sgreatstrengthisthatitsaudiencestendtoberelatively

young–andmanyadvertisersseeyoungconsumersastheirprimetargetmarket.

Because cinema campaigns are generally aimed at the young, many cinema

commercials are quite unlike television commercials, with film sequences

specificallycreated withtheyoung inmind(which sometimesbafflethe older

membersoftheaudience).

TheInternet



Thoughstillthoughtofasbeingverynew,intheUKtheInternetfirstsurfaced

asanadvertisingmediumin1997,whenitwasregisteredascarrying£8million

worthofadvertising.Inthatsameyear,Internetadvertisementswereforthefirst

time judged separately at Britain’s leading creative awards competition.

However, in Britain, as everywhere else, the Internet’s growth since then has

beenstartling,withadvertisingrevenueleapingfromthe£8millionin1997to

more than £34 million in 2009 – 24% of total expenditure and still climbing

rapidly.MostInternetadvertisingisforproductsandbrandsforwhichcustomers

wantquitedetailedinformation:finance,telecommunications,computers,travel,

automobiles, industrial goods, and entertainment are the top seven Internet

advertisingsectors.Inexpensivebrandedconsumergoodsaccountforonlysome

5%ofInternetadvertising.



Inpart,thisisbecausetheInternethasbecometheprimeinteractivemedium.It

allows, indeed encourages, customers to respond to advertisements by way of

chatroomsandotheronlinediscussionforums,sothatadvertisersandcustomers

engagedirectlyindialoguewitheachother.Internetenthusiastsoftenclaimthat

thisinteractivityisrevolutionizingmarketing,asadvertisersandtheircustomers

buildincreasinglycloserelationships. Thereisa smidgeon oftruthin this, but

traditional retailers have always been close to their customers – after all, the

customers personally visit their shops – and anyway, the vast majority of

customersdonotrespondtoadvertisersviatheInternet,nordotheywishto.



However, online behaviours and interactivity differ greatly between different

socioeconomicgroups.ConsequentlytheInternetishighlyeffectivefortargeting

defined demographic groups, both by special interests and activities, and at

differenttimesduringthedayandnight.Forexample,onlinebehaviourdiffers

markedlyaccordingtoage,sex,andclass.Urbanprofessionalsaged20–34rely

ontheInternetheavilyfortheirwork,andforplanningtheirsociallives.Women

aged 35–44 with families, in contrast, use it to manage the home, and for

hobbiesandotherinterests.Moreover,Internetuserscanbeidentified,andtheir

purchasingandothercharacteristicscanberelateddirectlytothem,bymeansof

the memories (‘cookies’) in their computers. This makes Internet targeting far

moreprecisethanthatforanyothermedium.



We have now explored all the major advertising media in the UK – and thus,

indirectly,intheworld.Thoughtherelativesizeandimportanceofeachmedium

willchangefromcountrytocountry,ashasbeensaid,thefundamentalsremain

constant. The fundamentals are determined by the technical nature of each

medium,andthehumannatureofconsumers.Thesedonotchange.



Chapter5

Thecreativeagencies:creatingnew

campaigns



WesawinChapter2thatsincetheendofthe20thcenturyadvertisingagencies

have become increasingly specialized. Before then, agencies provided their

clientswithawiderangeofvariedmarketingservices.Fromthe1970sonwards,

withthebreakdownofthe15%commissionsystem,agenciesbegantofocuson

theirtwocorecompetencies:creatingadvertisementsandbuyingmedia. These

two distinct activities soon came to be carried out by different specialist

companies:creativeagenciesandmediaagencies.Thisorganizationalstructure

still pertains today, and so we will consider each of the two specializations

separately,inthisandthenextchapter,startingwithcreativeagencies.



Firststepsincreativity



Most people think advertisements are dreamed up when ‘creative people’ are

told ‘We need a new campaign for Boggins beer – get your skates on and be

quickaboutit!’Afterwhichacreativepersonputsanicepackonhisorherhead,

sits in a dark room for a few hours until inspiration hits them, and then

animatedlyannounces‘I’vegotit!–“There’sNoBetterBeerthanBoggins!”’



Well,notquite.Whilethesittingandthinkingisroughlyakintoakeypartofthe

process,therestofthatlittlescenarioisillusoryinthreeessentialways.First,as

hasalreadybeenstated,thecreativepeoplewillnotstartworkwithoutawritten,

detailedadvertisingstrategywhichhasbeenagreedbytheirclient,Boggins,and

bytheagency’sseniormanagement.Second,creativepeoplealmostneverwork

individuallynowadays,theyalwaysworkincopy/artteamsoftwopeople.Third,

at this initial stage the copy/art team will almost always have several ideas

(usuallycalled‘concepts’)whichtheywillwanttodiscusswiththeircolleagues

beforerefiningoneortwoofthem(andtheywillrarelyarriveattheseconcepts

injustafewhours).



Aswasdetailedatthebeginningofthisbook,theadvertisingstrategydocument

willincludethecampaign’sobjective(s);factsaboutthebrandwhichshowthe

objectives to be realistic; the brand’s competitors, with details of their

advertising and marketing campaigns; a summary of any relevant market

research – saying why consumers use the brand, and why they do not; the

message the campaign must communicate, and the tone in which it must be

communicated;whichmediaarelikelytobeusedforthecampaign;thebudgets

available both for the preparation of the advertisements and for the media

campaign;atimescaleforboththepreparationoftheadvertisementsandforthe

durationofthemediacampaign;anyotherdetailsfelttobeespeciallyimportant

inthisinstance;and,particularly,thetargetmarketatwhichthecampaignwill

aim.



The creative team will need and want to know all this information. They will

need to know the media likely to be used, so they don’t create print

advertisements when a television commercial is required. They will need to

know the budget available, so they don’t create advertisements which simply

cannotbeafforded.Theywillneedtoknowhowlongtheyhavetopreparethe

campaign.Theywillneedtoknowthetargetmarketatwhichthecampaignwill

aim, so they can keep it in their mind’s eye all the time – and avoid creating

messages suitable for impecunious teenagers when a campaign aimed at the

affluent elderly is required. But for them, the absolutely vital part of the

advertisingstrategywillbe:themessagethecampaignmustcommunicate,and

thetoneinwhichitmustbecommunicated.



Oneofthemostdifficultlessonsadvertisingcreativepeople–andadvertisers–

havetolearnisthatthemessagesyouputintoadvertisementsarebutthemeans

toanend.Theendiswhatthetargetmarketmakesofthemessages.Itisnotthe

messagesyouputintoanadvertisementthatmatter,itisthemessagesthetarget

markettakesawayfromtheadvertisementthatmatter.Mostnovitiateadvertisers

andcreativepeoplebelievethatifyousaysomethinginanadvertisement,thisis

whatpeoplewilltakefromit.Maybe,maybenot.Justasitiseasyforpeopleto

misunderstandwhattheyaretoldinconversation,itisdoublyeasyforthemto

misunderstand what they see and hear in advertisements. They generally pay

little attention to advertisements, picking up only the broadest outline; they

frequently focus on aspects of advertisements that were included only as

unimportant props; they often forget most of the content of an advertisement,

rememberingonlythebitsthatgrabbedthem.Soitisessentialnottoovercrowd

advertisementswithtoomuchinformation,afailingofmanyadvertisers.Often,

people can remembertheadvertisementbut not remember which brand it was

for.Forallthesereasons,thebriefforthe‘messagethatmustbecommunicated’,

as defined in the advertising strategy, must be short, simple, unequivocal, and

clear.Andanyideasthecreativeteamcomeupwithmustbecheckedrigorously

againstthisbrief.



But the message in an advertisement does not include only the words and

pictures used. It includes the way they are used. The tone, the style, the

personality of the advertisement. Exactly the same words, spoken in different

tones of voice or set in different typefaces, will convey totally different

messages.Hereisasimpleexample.Apartyinvitationintraditionalembossed

copperplate lettering on deckle-edged heavy card will lead the recipient to

expect a totally different kind of party from an invitation – using exactly the

samewords –setinghoulish,haunted-house lettering,printedinbloodredon

glitteringfoil.Themessagewillbepreciselythesame:pleasecometomyparty.

Butthetone,thestyle,thepersonalityofeachwillpromiseanutterlydifferent

event.Inconsequence,eachwillappealtocompletelydifferenttypesofpeople,

differenttargetmarkets–andturnothersoff.Thesameistrueofadvertisements.

Theactors,themodels,thetypefaces,thedesign,theprops–everydetailofthe

advertisement will contribute to its tone. And its tone must be calculated to

appeal to its target market, otherwise the effectiveness of the message will

inevitably be impaired. Consequently, advertising creative people must be

exceptionallysensitivetothenuancesofcurrentstyles,currentfashions,current

vernacularlanguage.Naturally,thetypefaces,thedesign–andeventhemodels

andpropschosen–willprincipallybetheprovinceofanartdirectorratherthan

a copywriter (though both will have their say); and the language will be

principally the province of the copywriter rather than the art director (though

again both will have their say). This is one of the reasons why advertising

creativepeoplenowadaysalwaysworkinteamsoftwo:copyandarttogether.



Butthiswasnotalwaysthecase.Untilroughlythemiddleofthe20thcentury,

all over the world, new advertisements were normally created by copywriters,

workingalone–ratherliketheBogginsbeercopywriterinthescenarioabove.

Thecopywriterwouldindeedputametaphoricalice-packonhishead,andcome

upwiththewordsandmaybearoughideafortheillustration.He–itwasalmost

always a ‘he’ in those days – would then send his words and idea to a

‘visualizer’, somebody paid to visualize the copywriter’s thoughts. The

visualizers worked in a different department, often nowhere near the

copywriters. The visualizers would be typographers, or sometimes graphic

designers. But in this hierarchy the copywriter was top dog. The visualizer

broughtthecopywriter’sideatolife–butitwasstillthecopywriter’sidea.All

thisroughlymadesense,becauseprintadvertising,thenmuchthelargestsector

ofadvertising,wasprimarilyverbal.Thewordswereall-important.



Then came television. Television is essentially a visual medium – or a

visual/verbalmedium.TelevisionadvertisingbeganintheUSAinthe1930s,and

by the 1940s American agencies were questioning the ‘lone copywriter’

approach to creativity. One agency in particular pioneered the copy/art team

approach to creativity. This was a New York agency called Doyle Dane

Bernbach (DDB). In the 1950s, DDB quickly built a reputation as the most

highlycreativeagencyaround,firstinAmericaandthenthroughouttheworld.

DDBfamouslyrecruitedsomeofthemosttalentedcreativepeopleinAmerican

advertising. And the copy/art team philosophy was central to its creativity,

becausethismassivelyraisedthestatusofthe‘art’person–nowgiventhetitle

‘art director’. No longer did the visualizer simply interpret the copywriter’s

ideas:thecopy/artteamworkedtogether,fromthestart.



Nordidtheteamworksolelyontelevisionadvertising.Itwassoondiscovered

that copy/art teams enhanced creativity in all media. And as the number and

different types of media have burgeoned, this union of talents has grown ever

more essential.Today almostalladvertising campaigns have to besufficiently

adaptable to work in a host of media, from television to in-store shelf-cards,

from posterstotheInternet. Whatever the medium, thecopywriterand the art

director create ideas together, in tandem, each bringing their own different

training and talents to the process. And advertisements have proved all the

strongerforit.DDB’searlycampaigns–forVolkswagen,forELAL,forAvis

carrentals,andagalaxyofothers–quicklybecamefamousaroundtheglobe.A

newkindofadvertisinghadbeenborn,inwhichadvertisementconceptsliterally

fusedwordsandvisuals.AdvertisersflockedtoDDB,anditsbusinessgrewlike

wildfire.



Partly because commercial television did not start in Britain until 1955, and

partly because the British advertising bosses were reluctant to adopt a new

creativesystemtheythoughttobedangerouslyradicalandexpensive–thenew

‘artdirectors’demandedfarhighersalariesthanthevisualizershadbeenpaid–

the copy/art team approach did not cross the Atlantic until the early 1960s. It

started at what was to become Britain’s own leader in creativity, the agency

Collett Dickensen Pearce (CDP). CDP had a close working relationship with

DDB,andsoknewallaboutitscreative‘team’system.CDP,likeDDBbeforeit,

quicklygainedaworldwidereputationforoutstandingcreativity.Itscampaigns

forBensonandHedges,Heineken,Hamletcigars,andmanyothersscoopedup

awardsatalltheworld’sleadingcreativefestivals.Duringthe1960sandearly

1970s,thesetwoagenciesdominatedworldadvertisingcreativity.



11.BillBernbach,whobuiltDDBNewYorkintotheworld’smosthighly

creativeagencyinthe1960s



12.DDB’sVWcampaignquicklybecamefamousaroundtheglobefor

itscreativity



Todayvirtuallyalladvertisingcreativity,ineveryleadingagencyintheworld,is

producedbycopy/artteams.Generally,thecopywriterandtheartdirectorforma

long-termrelationship,andmovetogetherfromagencytoagencywheneverthey

change jobs. Obviously, as in all relationships, they occasionally split up and

findnew partners.Butsuch splitsare surprisinglyrare.Creativepeoplefind it

difficult to discover a mate with whom they can work well – and having

discoveredone,theytryhardtokeeptheirrelationshipalive.



How long will it takeacreativeteamto come up with a new campaign idea?

Well,howlongisapieceofstring?Anideamaycomealmostinstantly,ormay

take weeks in gestation. Will the team come up with just one idea, or with

several, for further consideration? There can be no single answer to this.

Sometimes the teamhasanideaitis absolutely sure is absolutely right. More

often,theteamwillhave afewideas,allof whichitfeels couldbedeveloped

with further time and thought. The team will then want to involve others in

assessingthequalityofitsvariousideas.Itwilldiscussthemwithothercreative

colleagues, and at this point account planning – which we left at the end of

Chapter1–mayre-enterthecreativeprocess.Butbeforeweinvolveourselves

furtherinthisprocess,itwillbehelpful,indeednecessary,toexplorethenature

of creativity, and of the creative people upon whom so much in advertising

depends.



13.CDP’sHeinekencampaignscoopedupinternationalcreativeawards



Thenatureofcreativity



What is creativity? Even more than any of the other definitions we have

considered,creativityisimpossibletodefinewithanyaccuracy–thoughmany

people have tried, and you will find many definitions in dictionaries. It is

sometimessaidthat,althoughitcannotbedefined,itcaneasilyberecognized.

Likelotsofotherthingssaidaboutcreativity,thisisahalf-truth.Yes,creativity

can be recognized, but different people recognize different things as being

creative. As we all know, most people at first rejected the Impressionists’

paintings as not being art, while today they are accepted as being among the

greatest works of art in history. The same has been true in music, and in

literature.Andithassometimeshappenedinadvertising.



Theconceptofcreation–makingsomethingoutofnothing,bringingthingsinto

existenceforthefirsttime–hasfascinatedandperplexedhumanitythroughout

theages.Almostthroughouthistoryitwasgenerallyacceptedthatcreativity‘just

happens’.Ideasfloat into themindof their ownaccord, unpredictably, andno

further explanation is possible. The most common cartoon depiction of this

phenomenonisofanelectricbulbsuddenlylightingup,fornoexplicitreason,in

thebrain.Butthisisaltogethertoosimpleaviewofcreativity.



First,itsuggestsideascomeaboutwithoutpriorcogitation.Butitwouldbehard

to find a great creative thinker who did not say ideas are the result of long

cogitation. Sir Isaac Newton did not simply discover gravity when he saw an

apple falling, as the famous anecdote claims. He had been thinking about the

natureofgravityforyears.Indeed,whenaskedhowhecamebyhisdiscoveries,

Newton replied ‘By always thinking about them’. Yes, new ideas do come to

highlycreativepeople‘outoftheblue’.Buttheycomebecausecreativepeople

constantlyseekthem,bothconsciouslyandsubconsciously.



Second,thelightbulbimagesuggeststhatideasarrivefullyformedinthebrain.

Thisseldomhappens.AlbertEinsteintookatleast10years,betweentheagesof

16 and 26, to develop his theory of relativity. Most creativity involves the

development and execution of original insights. Pablo Picasso constantly

changed and transformed his mural masterpiece Guernica as he painted it.

Professor Robert Weisberg, who has written extensively about this, defines

creativity as incremental in nature, and that is an excellent way to think of it.

One of the incidental benefits of the copy/art team system is that both

individualschallengeandincrementallyimproveeachother’sconcepts.



These factors are crucial to any consideration of advertising creativity. When

theyreceivetheadvertisingstrategy,thecreativepeoplewillstarttothinkabout

–tocogitateabout–howtocommunicatethecampaignmessage,inawaythat

willarrestand interestthetargetmarket. Theywillbesearchingfor arelevant

idea that is innovative and impactful, one that has never been used before in

advertising.Itisusuallyeasy tofind innovativeandoriginalideasthat arenot

relevant,butthoseideasare.…well,irrelevant.Arelevantideamayormaynot

arrivequitequickly.Butthenitwillneedtobedeveloped,incrementally,inall

its aspects. Almost always, the initial idea will need to be chiselled, moulded,

honed – particularly for use in different media. This takes time. But creative

people in advertising know that time is not infinitely available. There is a

commercialimperative,a deadline to bemet.If a new campaign isneededby

next Thursday, the creative team will need to have a new campaign ready by

nextThursday.Thiscanbeexceedinglystressful.Fewpeoplerealizethemental

agonies advertising creative people undergo as the days pass, and the new

campaigndoesnotmaterialize.Everydaythatpassesmeansthereisonelessday

still available. But 9 times out of 10 – maybe 99 times out of 100 – they

eventuallymakethedeadline.Iftheyfailtoooften,theywillfindthemselvesno

longerworkingasadvertisingcreativepeople.



Thenatureofcreativepeople



Advertising creative people are notoriously egotistic, volatile, and irascible. If

youhappentofindyourselfinanybarorpubfrequentedbyadvertisingpeople

inLondon,NewYork,oranyoftheworld’sotheradvertisingcapitals,youcan

safely bet that you willsoonhearstoriesofpunch-ups, of chairs being hurled

across rooms, of computer keyboards being thrown out of windows when

creative people fight about their advertising ideas. Almost all these stories are

mythical,buttheyreflectadvertisingpeople’sownimage–initswayglamorous

–ofadvertisingcreativepeople.



Likewise, if you start any broad discussion about the nature and behaviour of

creative people in society, you can safely bet that within a few minutes

somebodywillmentionVincentVanGoghorPaulGauguin,orboth.Why?Not

becausetheyaretypical;theywerenotatalltypical.Nootherartistshaveended

up with amputated ears, few have fled from civilization to live among native

peoples on the far side of the world. But once again, Van Gogh and Gauguin

epitomize our romantic image of artists: headstrong egotists, often mentally

unbalanced.Therealityisentirelydifferent.Thevastmajorityofartists–andof

advertising creative people – lead exceptionally hardworking, relatively

conventionallives.



Nonetheless,itistruethathighlycreativepeoplearedifferentfromtherestofus

in certain specific ways. Over recent years, a good deal of research has been

carried out into these differences by psychologists, and more recently by

neuroscientists. Their findings show that creative people do tend to be more

introspective, more self-sufficient, experimental, and nonconformist. However,

innostudyhavethedifferencesbetweencreativepeopleandothersbeenvast.If

you draw a spectrum, with conformity at one end and non-conformity at the

other,creativepeople,onaverage,willveertowardsnon-conformity.Onlyafew,

likeVanGoghandGauguin(andEinstein,whowasdecidedlyeccentric),willbe

far out on the extreme edge. As Professor Michael Badawy, at the Virginia

PolytechnicInstitute,putit:



Creativityislike height,weightand strength.Peoplevaryconsiderablyin

thesedimensions,but everybodyhassomeheight, someweightand some

strength.Likewise,thereisa certainamountofcreativityin allof us,but

someofusareobviouslyalotmorecreativethanothers.



There is yet another vital way in which creative people differ from others.

Creativepeople areobsessiveabouttheiroutput. Theywish, andexpect,tobe

judged by their output rather than by their personal behaviour. This was well

expressedbythepsychologistDrAnthonyStorr:



Thework,ratherthantheperson,becomesthefocusofself-esteem.Tocare

moreaboutone’sbookorone’spaintingthanonedoesaboutoneselfwill

seemstrangetothosewhoaresureenoughofthemselvestobethemselves

in social relations. But if a book or a painting contains more of the real

person than is ever shown in ordinary life, it is not surprising that the

producerishyper-sensitive.



Howdoallthesefactorsimpingeoncreativepeopleinadvertising?Well,they

knowtheyare,andfeeltheyare,differentfromothers.Theyworkunderoften

intense psychological pressure. And they care obsessively about their output,

whichmeanstheyusuallytakecriticismbadly.Takentogether,thesefactorsdo

tendtomakethemegotistical,volatile,andquicktoanger.Suchbehavioursmay

notbejustifiable,buttheyareunderstandable–andmustbeunderstoodbythose

whowanttoworkwiththem,successfully.



Managingcreativepeople



Untilthe1970s,creativepeopleinagencieswere‘managed’bytheagencies’top

executives, through their own department head, the creative director. Creative

directorsweresometimesverypowerful,buttheyseldom,ifever,rantheshop.

Thiswastheprovinceofthebusinessmenwhoownedandbuilttheagency.Such

businessmenmightbesympathetictocreativity,aswasJohnPearce,theguiding

lightatCDP.Ortheymight,morecommonly,seecreativepeopleasanecessary

evil:creativepeoplewereessential,buthadfartoohighanopinionoftheirown

contribution,andthisfuelledtheirintolerableegotismandvolatility.Thisviewis

reflected in the quotation from John Hobson in Chapter 1. (Research studies

amongadvertisingcreativepeopleconfirmthatmostofthembelieveitistheir

output, the advertisements, which the rest of agency live off, and that top

managementshavelittleappreciationofthisbasicfact.Anoldadvertisingquip

runs‘Creativepeopleinagenciesarealwayscoveredinlovebites.Self-inflicted,

ofcourse.’)



Hence there was continuous strife between agency managements and their

creativedepartments.ShortlyafterIstartedworkinginadvertising,thechairman

of one of Britain’s most successful agencies publicly declared that it was his

ambition‘Tobreakthestrangleholdofthecreativepeopleontheproductionof

advertising’. But with the growth of television advertising, and the creative

revolutionledinAmericabyDDBandinLondonbyCDP,muchofthepowerin

agenciesmoved fromthebusiness managersto thetopcreativepeople.At the

veryminimum,theyreachedparity.Andinthe1960sand1970s,manyagencies,

particularlyinthe USA,werefoundedby,oraround, topcreativepeople.This

wasanewphenomenon.



It became apparent that the division between agency managements and the

newlyenfranchisedcreativedepartmentshadtobebridged,andthiswaspartof

thegenesisof accountplanning (page 14). The ingenuity of account planning

was that the new account planners had twin (or even triple) loyalties. They

worked closely with, and often represented, the creative people; they worked

closely with, and often represented, the account handlers; (and they worked

closelywith,and often represented, withinthe agency, the clients).They were

abletohandlethisapparentconflictofloyaltiesbecause,aboveall,theyworked

closelywithand alwaysrepresentedthe opinionsand wishesofconsumers, of

thetarget market.As market researchdeveloped, fromthe1970s onwards,the

voice of the consumer was increasingly heard in advertising. In agencies, the

account planners were at the epicentre of this development. They carried out,

eitherthemselvesorthroughspecialistresearchcompanies,allthetestingofnew

creative concepts. This gave them enormous influence. Nobody in advertising

can ever totally ignore the opinions of the consumer, of the target market.

Consumer research into advertisements, to return to John Hobson’s quotation,

hadbeencarriedoutpreviously.Butthishadbeendoneinaconfrontationalway.

Theagencymanagerscheckedoutthecreativepeople’sideas,thenreturnedto

thecreativepeoplewiththeresearchfindingsandtoldthemwhattodo.Account

planning does not work like that: the creative people are integrated into the

process.Thiswasamajorstepforward.



It must not be thought, however, that every shred of friction between creative

peopleandagencymanagementswasthuseliminatedatonefellswoop.Notall

account planners are brilliant diplomats; not all creative people can accept

criticism, even when it is put to them diplomatically. Recent studies among

creative people, around the world, show that many remain suspicious of the

influence of research on their creativity. Theyfearthatthepublicrejectstruly

innovative concepts – the story of the Impressionists again – and that it is

essentialtotakemarketresearchamongthepublicwithseverallargepinchesof

salt. This is true. But all the best creative people acknowledge that account

planningcanhelpthemimprovetheiroutput–incrementally,attheveryleast.



Accountmanagement



Hadthisbookbeenwrittenbeforecreativeandmediaagenciesbrokeapart,and

before account planning took hold, the opening section of this chapter would

doubtless have been devoted to account managers: the people who are

responsiblefortheliaisonbetweenclientsandagencies.



Differentagencieshavedifferentnamesforthosewhohandlecontactwiththeir

clients on a day-to-day basis: account managers, account executives, account

supervisors, and others. Above these in the agency hierarchy are account

directors,clientservicedirectors,orsimplyboarddirectors.AndinAmericathe

title president or vice-president is often used. Whatever the nomenclature, the

job specificationsremain the same. Account managersrepresentthe agency to

theclient,and the clientto the agency.Ata less seniorlevel,they handleand

progressthe day-to-dayworktheagencycarries outforitsclients.At asenior

level,theirroleismorestrategic,andtheaccountdirectorensurestheclientis

content(hopefullymorethancontent)withtheservicetheagencyisproviding,

and that the agency’s plans and campaigns are all going in the right strategic

direction.



Moreover,in earliertimes,thediversevariety ofwork carriedoutbyagencies

meanttheaccountmanagerworkedwiththeclientonamultiplicityofmarketing

services, and was expected to oversee all of them. This meant the account

managerworkedcloselywithmanyoftheclient’smarketingpersonnelandgot

toknowthemandtheirbusinessexceedinglywell,ineveryaspect.Nobodyelse

in the agency knew a fraction as much about the client’s business as the

appointed account manager. So good account managers were very powerful.

Theywerethelynchpinsoftheagencyorganization.Theycould,andfrequently

did,taketheirclientswiththemwhentheyswitchedjobs.



Today things are not quite the same. Yes, account managers are still highly

important. They are still responsible for supervising and coordinating all the

worktheagencydoesfortheirclients.Buttheworktheagencydoesisrelatively

specific. The agency creates new campaigns, carries out the account planning

relevanttothosecampaigns,andliaiseswiththeclient’smediaagency.Account

managers orchestrate these activities. But account planners, too, develop close

relationshipswithclients.Sodocreativepeople.Soaccountmanagershavefar

less personal control than they did. Moreover, clients work with a raft of

different marketing services companies, and their personal relationships with

each of them tend to be less close than they were with the multifaceted full-

serviceagenciesofthepast.Strongaccountmangersdostill,occasionally,take

theirclientswiththemwhentheyswitchjobs,butinlargeagenciesthishappens

rarely.Becauseinadditiontoallthefactorslistedabove,mostmajorclientsare

nowhandledinternationally.



Internationaladvertising



Naturally,advertisinghasnotbeenimmunetotheglobalizationofworldtrade.

Far from it. Most global companies are also global advertisers. International

cosmetics,perfume,andfashioncompanieshavebeenrunningglobalcampaigns

– mostly in top-class fashion magazines – since the 1930s. But the rush into

globaladvertisingbymassconsumergoodscompaniesdidnotreallygetgoing

untiltheendofthe20thcentury.Andevennow,therealityisthattherearevery

fewcampaignsthatareliterallyglobal.Mostaremultinational–thatis,theyrun

in many countries, but in many others, local laws, local customs, and local

competitorsforcevariationsfromglobaluniformity.



In a shrinking world, the commercial benefits of global – or anyway

multinational – advertising are indisputable. Central control of campaigns is

easier. Internationaltravellers seethesame campaigneverywhere,instead ofa

mish-mash of different campaigns in different countries. As national cultures

become more homogeneous, campaigns that succeed in one country usually

succeedinothers.Thetransferenceofsuchknowledgefromcountrytocountry

isoneofmultinationalcompanies’keycommercialstrengths.Andglobalization

meanscreative costscan beamortized–thoughthesavingsfromamortization

aregenerallyfarlessthannovitiateglobaladvertisersexpect.



Butwhilethebenefitsareclear,themechanicsarecomplicated.Theworldisnot

nearlyashomogeneousastheprotagonistsofglobalizationliketoclaim.Almost

everything changes as you move from country to country: landscape,

architecture,language,laws,traditions,people’sphysiognomyandclothes,and

oftentheproductformulationanditspackaging.Advertisementscanbe,andare,

made to skirt around these differences, but many end up fairly bland in

consequence. Hence the creation of truly effective multinational campaigns

demandsagreatdealofinter-countrydiscussionandcoordination.



Whetherornottheircampaignsarehomogeneousthroughouttheworld,global

advertisersusuallyseek tousethe samecreativeagencythroughouttheworld.

Eveniftheadvertisementsmustvarybycountry,fortheclientthereisagreat

benefitinhavingasingleagencythatcancoordinateitsadvertisingeverywhere.

Consequently, all the largest agencies have structured themselves to handle

internationalclients.Theyappointglobalclientservicedirectors(whatevertheir

exact title), who are responsible for the way the agency services the clients

acrosstheworld.Globalclientservicedirectorsliveinaeroplanes(andinluxury

hotels), and wield considerable power – similar to the power of the account

managerintheold,full-serviceagency.Nobodyelseinanagencyknowsnearly

asmuchaboutaclientanditsinternationaloperationsastheglobalclientservice

director.Andtheworldwideturnoverandprofitofasingleglobalclientmayfar

exceed the turnover and profit of the entire local agency in some, smaller

countries.



To handle their global clients, agencies have therefore developed matrix

management to a high level of sophistication. Both local and international

managers have interwoven and overlapping responsibilities for services and

profitability.Itisacomplexnewgame,callingforcloseteamwork.Butagencies

arerapidlylearningtogetgoodatit:theyhaveto.



Specialistagencies



Most of this chapter has concerned general, rather than specialist, creative

agencies. This is because the larger creative agencies, both nationally and

internationally,areallgeneralists.Thatis,theyhandletheadvertisingneedsof

clientsin almosteverymanufacturingandservicesector.Theywillinglydoso

because,first,clientsseldomallowtheiragencytohandletheadvertisingoftheir

competitors. An agency can work for, say, only one automobile client, one

petfoodclient,onetoiletriesclient,andsoon.Soifanagencywantstobuildup

itsbusiness,itcannotaffordtospecializeinasinglemarketsector.Second,most

agency people enjoy working for clients in different sectors. They find it

stimulating, and they transfer the knowledge they acquire from one sector to

another.(Thisisoneofthekeyreasonswhyadvertisersaregenerallyunableto

createtheirownin-houseagencies–thoughmanyhavetried.)



However, there are a small number of specialist agencies that handle certain

classes of business. Specialist agencies handle cinema advertising, theatre

advertising,recruitmentadvertising,directresponsecouponadvertising(off-the-

page),pharmaceuticalcompanyadvertising,andtechnicalfinancialadvertising.

In these areas, clients are seldom concerned about their agency handling

competitors’ campaigns. They are more concerned that the agency should be

conversant with their particular commercial needs, and with any legal

requirements that apply specifically to their sector – and generalist agencies

seldomare.



Additionally,asnotedonpage29,inrecentyearsagroupofcreativeagencies

has emerged which specialize in Internet and other digital advertising. These

agencies are usually subject to the same constraints regarding the handling of

directly competitive clients as general agencies are – but clients interpret the

constraints more leniently, as the digital agency sector is still relatively small,

andtheskillsinvolvedarerelativelyscarce.Itiswidelyagreedthatthecreative

skillsinvolvedin developingadigitalcampaignaredifferentfrom, butsimilar

to, the creative skills employed in other media. An article in the authoritative

InternationalJournalofAdvertisingin2009listed‘TheSixPrinciplesofDigital

Advertising’as:



1) Advertisers must be sensitive to consumer concerns about privacy and

spam.

2)Consumersaremorelikelytobereceptivetodigitaladsfromadvertisers

theytrust.

3)Consumersaremorelikelytorespondtodigitaladsforproductsthatare

relevanttothem.

4) Digital approaches that incorporate interactivity are more likely to be

effective.

5) Inthedigital context advertisingmessages that are entertaininghave a

higherchanceofsuccess.

6)Inthelongrun,digitalmessagesneedtobuildthebrandtobeeffective.

Severaloftheseprinciplesapplyacrossallmedia(principles2,3,and6–andto

some extent 5). The others are clearly specific to digital advertising. It is this

overlap which has made it unclear whether, in the long term, digital agencies

will be merged into general agencies or will continue to plough their own

furrow.Onthisquestion,thejuryisstillout.



The creative agencies have now created the advertisements. Let us go on to

explore how the media agencies will buy the space and time in which the

advertisementswillappear.



Chapter6

Themediaagencies:spendingtheclients’

money



In neither Britain nor the USA was the bisection and compartmentalization of

creativeandmedia-buyingservicesuniversallywelcomedbyeveryoneworking

inadvertising;norwasitentirelylogical.Whilethesplitwasinprogress,many

argued – some still argue – that selecting the media and creating the

advertisements are intrinsically part of the same process: the process of

producingacost-effectiveadvertisingcampaign.Theycomplainedthatthesplit

would resultineachtype of agency focusing myopically ontheirown narrow

specialism and failing to see the bigger campaign picture. Though advertisers,

andagencymanagements,have workedhardto minimizethismyopia,thereis

somejusticeinthecomplaint.Creativeandmediaagenciesseldomcommunicate

asthoroughlyastheyshould,andseldomfullyappreciateeachother’spointof

view. As things currently stand, however, the trend to specialization which

caused the split seems irreversible. The separation of creative and media

agenciesseemsheretostay.



It is undeniably true that the personalities and talents of the individuals who

workineachtypeofagencyaresodifferentastobealmostantipathetic,andit

was this antipathy which, in part, led to the rift. Yes, both are called upon to

think innovatively. But people in media agencies tend to be far less volatile,

egotistic, and intuitive, far more grounded, numerical, and process-driven.

Thoughtheydonotneedtobemastersofdifferentialcalculus,andfeware,the

successful individuals in media agencies have an instinctive feel for figures –

andtheyneedit,because theyspendagreatdeal ofeachdayporingover and

analysingcomputerdata.Poringoverandanalysingcomputerdataisanathema

tomostcreativepeople.



Fishwherethefishare–atthelowestpossiblecost



Thesimplestwaytodefine theroleof themediaagencyisto takeananalogy

fromfishing.Themediaagencymusthelpadvertisersfishwherethefishare–at

thelowestpossiblecost.‘Fishwherethefishare’isamaximwhichappliestoall

areas of marketing, not merely advertising. The ‘fish’, in the analogy, are the

target market. It is common sense for fishermen to fish where the fish are; a

fishermanwouldgetnowherefishingwherenofisharetobefound.Likewise,

marketerswillgetnowhereadvertisinginmediawherenoneofthetargetmarket

willseetheadvertisements.



But the analogy goes deeper. Before deciding where they are going to fish,

fishermenmusttakeintoaccountthecost.Itwillgenerallycostananglermore

togowherethereisanabundanceoffishtobecaught,especiallyifthefishare

ofaparticularlyhighquality;similarly,atrawlercaptainwillcarefullyassessthe

costofsailinganydistancetofind alargeshoaloffish, inordertoensurethe

trawlisprofitable.



Findingthebestplacetofindthefish–whichequalsidentifyingthebestmedia

in which to find the target market – is the first, strategic role of the media

agency.Ensuringthatthefishingisthenascheapaspossibleisthesecondrole

ofthemediaagency.



Inamediaagency,thesetworolesarecalledplanningandbuying.Theformeris

thestrategicrole,thelattercallsforgreatnegotiatingskill.Althoughmediarates

andpricesare published,the costsofbuying campaignsarehighly negotiable.

But the two roles are not quite as separate as they may sound: planning and

buyingmustbeweldedtogether.Anegotiatedpricewillonlybeabargainifit

meets the strategy of the campaign. Buying cheap space simply because it is

cheapispatentlyawasteofmoney.(Itistheequivalentofpayingnothingtofish

inaplacewheretherearenofish!)Sonotallmediaagenciesseparatethetwo

roles.Somemediaagenciesemployindividualscalled‘planner/buyers’whodo

bothjobs,othersdivideplannersfrombuyers,thoughthetwoindividualsmust

work closely together. Naturally, the different agencies which follow the two

differentstructuralroutesareallconvincedtheirrouteisthebestone.



Whateveritsinternalstructure,thestrategicfirstroleofthemediaagencywillbe

toselectandrecommendwhichbroadmediasectororsectorsshouldbeusedto

reach the target market: newspapers, magazines, television, radio, direct mail,

postersandtransport, cinema–ortheInternet.Ora combinationofseveralof

these. The media agency will reach this decision in collaboration with the

advertiser, and usually with the creative agency too. The advertising strategy

document will, as always, play a key role. The advertising strategy will have

definedthekeyobjectivesofthecampaign.Thebroadmediaselectionwillthen

seek to meet these objectives, and as we shall see, it will be based on three

fundamental factors: the budget available, the technical nature of the medium,

andthemedium’scoverageofthetargetmarket.



Once the medium, or the combination of media, has been chosen, the media

agencywillrefineitsrecommendationsfurther.Itwillselectandrecommendthe

precisedetailsofhow,where,andwhenthecampaignshouldappear,withinthe

chosenmedia.Thesedecisionswillagainbediscussedwiththeadvertiser,and

possiblywiththecreativeagency,butthisistheprimaryterritoryofthemedia

agency.Planningandimplementingthedetailedplacingofthecampaignarethe

mediaagency’skeyexpertise.



Selectingthemedium



Asstatedabove,thethreefundamentalfactorsinvolvedinselectingwhichmedia

sector to use for a campaign – the budget, the nature of the medium, and the

coverage of the target market – interact. All three must be taken into account

whenacampaignisbeingplanned.Therearenoprizesforgettingtworightif

thethirdiswrong:youwillnotachievetwo-thirdsofthehoped-forresults–you

willbeluckytogetanyresultsatall.



Thebudget

Manifestly, the size of theavailablebudget will be aprimefactor in choosing

whichmediumtouse.However,nowadaysallmediasectorsarehighlydiverse,

whichmeanstheyarehighlyflexible.Foranygivencampaign,itispossibleto

buylargeadvertisementsorsmallones,tobuymanyadvertisementsorfew,to

buyadvertisementsthatwillreachlargenumbersofpeopleorsmallnumbersof

people. In every case, the price of the advertisements, and thus of the total

campaign,willvary.Asinmostpurchasingsituations,biggerbuyersgetquantity

discounts,eveniftheexactnatureofsuchdiscountsmaynotalwaysbereadily

apparent.(Forexample,thecostpersecondfora30-secondspotischeaperthan

thecostpersecondfora15-secondspot,astelevisioncompaniesprefertosell

longerspots–butanovicebuyermaynotnoticethis.)

Sothereisnofixedentrypriceforanyonemedium.Todaytherearesomany

media, and so many advertisers, that media prices reflect supply and demand

veryprecisely:in economic terms,the market foradvertisingis a freemarket,

open and highly competitive. By buying selectively, and knowledgeably, an

advertisercan makea smallbudgetgoalongway– withthe aid,that is,of a

topnotch media agency. Nonetheless, it is unwise to try and stretch a small

budgettoofar.Theavailablebudgetmightbesufficienttobuy,say,onewhole

pageinamass-circulationnationalnewspaper.Butifso,thatwouldseldombe

thebestwaytospendthemoney.Innormalcircumstances,formostcampaigns,

more and smaller advertisements in that same newspaper, or more large

advertisements in newspapers with smaller circulations, would both be better

options.(Butiftheadvertisingstrategycalledformaximumimpactonasingle

day,thewholepageinthemass-circulationnewspapermightbetherightthingto

do.)



Televisionisagoodexampleofhowallthisworks.Overall,nationaltelevision

is the most expensive medium. But there are now many specialist television

stations with relatively small audiences, where advertising spots are relatively

cheap.Youpayforwhatyouget:thesmallertheaudience,thelowertheprice.

Likewise, spots can be bought quite cheaply on even the largest television

stationswhenaudiencesaresmall:inthemiddleofthenight,say.Onceagain,

the smaller the audience, the lower the price. Consequently, many advertisers

with fairly small budgets exploit the lower prices available from the cheaper

television stations, and the cheaper times – while advertisers selling mass

consumergoodsneedtoreachmassaudiences,andsothereislittlepointinthem

buyingspots thatareseenbyonly afew people.Thesesameprinciplesapply,

suitablyadapted,acrossallmedia.



Thenatureofthemedium

For advertising, every media sector has, by its very nature, certain inherent

characteristics.Mostoftheseareplaincommonsense.Television,cinema,and

the Internet have sound, vision, and movement. Radio has only sound.

Newspapersandmagazinesprovidespaceforlongcopy,whichpeoplecanread

attheirleisure,andtheyarehighlyportable.Postershavetheimpactofsize,and

can be sited near retailers where customers make their purchases. Direct mail

andemailscanbehighlypersonalized.

Despitethewelterofmarketresearchthatisnowadaysavailable,noneofthese

characteristicscanbeexactlyquantifiedinfinancialterms.However,thevarying

characteristics provide varying advantages for different kinds of product. The

skill, fortheadvertiserand their media and creativeagencies,lies in selecting

themediumwhichismostappropriate–thatis,likelytobemostpersuasive–

fortheproductorservicebeingadvertised.Someproductsdemandthekindof

explanation that only printed copy can provide; some products need to

emphasize their appetite appeal, using high-quality colour photography or

cinematography; some products can be perfectly well advertised using sound

alone;someproductsbenefitfromthepersonalfeelofaletter.Usingthenature

ofamediumtoitsfulladvantagewillmaximizetheeffectivenessofacampaign

– and often make a limited budget punch well above its weight. It is always

‘horsesforcourses’.



Coverageofthetargetmarket

Without further belabouring the ‘fish where the fish are’ analogy, this is the

absolutely key factor in choosing the right medium. If the medium does not

reachthepeoplewhomaymakeapurchase,theadvertisingistotallywasted.It

might be thought that the ‘safe’ way to avoid such a danger is to advertise in

media which reach, as near as possible, 100% of the national population: if

everybody in the country sees the campaign, then the target market will, by

definition, have been reached. Very nearly 100% of the population can be

reached by television, by a blanket national press or poster campaign, or by a

blanketnationaldirectmailcampaignofthekindthegovernmentemployswhen

wishing to communicate with the entire country. However, this ‘safe’ route

ignores the second part of the ‘fish’ analogy. Taking this route will almost

invariably be unnecessarily expensive. It is therefore unlikely to be the most

cost-effective route possible. In reaching 100% or thereabouts, the advertiser

willinevitablybepayingforadvertisingthatwillreachahugenumberofpeople

whowillnot make a purchase. Inotherwords, the campaign will waste afair

proportionoftheavailablebudget.

Tospendthebudgetascost-effectivelyaspossible,andthusreachthefishatthe

lowestpossiblecost,thetargetmarketwillneedtobedefinedwithconsiderable

accuracy, and this group will then need to be correlated with its media usage.

Marketresearch surveyssuchas theTargetGroup Indexwill bean invaluable

toolincorrelatingthecoverageofthetargetmarketachievedbydifferentmedia

sectors.Andoftentheadvertiserwillthendecidethatthecostofreachingclose

to100%ofthetargetmarketistoohigh–thatitismorecost-effectivetoachieve

alowercoverage,morecheaply.(Togoforfewerfish,atfarlessexpense.)The

media agency will be able to provide the advertiser with a chart showing the

incrementalcostsofreaching,forexample,60%/70%/80%/90%…ofthe

targetmarket.Theadvertiserwillthenbeabletomakeaninformedjudgement

regardingthelevelofcoveragetobeaimedfor,atanacceptablecost.



Having selected the basic media sector, or sectors, the media agency will get

downtoplanningthedetailofthecampaign.



Size,frequency,andtiming



Toalargeextent,theprincipalexpertiseofamediaagencyistochoosebetween

trade-offs. Once the size of the budget has been set, and the selection of the

mediasector(s)tobeusedhasbeendetermined,themediaagencymustsliceup

theavailablemoneyinthemostcost-effectivewaybetweenthekeymedia.



Iftheadvertiser’sbudgetwereinfinite,unlimited,thenthemediaagencywould

beabletoachieve100%coverageofthetargetmarket,withhugeadvertisements

andlengthycommercials,whichwouldappearconstantly,withoutcease.Butno

budget, of any kind, is ever infinite or unlimited. This unrealistic picture of a

fairy-talecampaignhighlightstheneedforthetrade-offs.Themediaagencyhas

to recommend, as we have seen, what percentage of the target market it is

economicaltoreach–andthenhowbigtheadvertisementsshouldbe,howoften

theyshouldappear,andhowlongthecampaignshouldrun.



Again,allthesefactorsinteract.Ifbiggeradvertisementsorlongercommercials

are used, this will mean they must appear less frequently. Similarly, if it is

necessary for the campaign to run for an extended period of time, it will be

necessary for the advertisements to be smaller (or shorter), or to appear less

frequently–orpossiblyboth.Whenacampaignisbeingplanned,thereareno

preciserightandwronganswerstomostofthesequestions.Butagoodmedia

agency,employingacombinationofnumericalanalysisandpastexperience,will

be able to offer the advertiser clear guidelines. The question of the

advertisement’ssize(orduration)willneedtobediscussedandagreedwithboth

the creative agency and the advertiser; the frequency and duration of the

campaignwillmainlybediscussedandagreedwiththeadvertiser–thoughthe

creativeagencywillbekept‘intheloop’.



The size of the advertisement will be determined by the extent to which the

awarenessandimpactarekeyobjectiveswithintheadvertisingstrategy.Thisis

truerofprintedandoutdoormediathanofbroadcastmedia.Thepublicnaturally

spots thesizeofaprinted advertisement, or a poster, but ismuchlessacutely

awareofthelengthofatelevisionorradiocommercial.Generally,thelargera

printadvertisement,thegreaterthenumberofpeoplewhowillnoticeit.Andata

subconscious level, the public realizes that a larger advertisement is probably

about something ‘important’. So larger advertisements achieve high awareness

andhighimpact.



Butsometimes,surprisingly,thesefactorsarerelativelyunimportant.Perhapsthe

product is only used by a small number of people, a small target market. In

certain circumstances – remembering there are advertisements which look for

people,andadvertisementswhichpeoplelookfor–smalleradvertisementscan

be far more cost-effective than larger ones. If you are advertising a cough

medicine, for example, you only really want the advertisement to be seen by

peoplesufferingfromacough.Soasmalladvertisementwiththeheadline‘Bad

Cough?’willflagdownpeoplesuffering–andtheyaretheprecisetargetmarket.



Similar criteria apply with regard to timing and frequency. Most people plan

theirsummerholidaysinthedepthsofwinter–soholidaycompaniesadvertise

heavilyaroundChristmasand the New Year. Mostnewcarsare bought in the

spring and early summer, so automobile advertisers focus on those months.

Fashions change in the spring and autumn, so that is when new styles will be

advertised, while of coursecoughsandcoldsaremorelikely in the winter, so

thatiswhentheirmedicinecampaignsappear.Manyoftheproductspeoplebuy

are seasonal – but many are not. In these cases, advertisers may aim to boost

sales by running campaigns when their competitors are not doing so. Or they

maygoforshort,sharpcampaignsofhighfrequencytodominatethemarketfor

aspecificperiod.(ProcterandGamble,theworld’slargestadvertiser,isagreat

believer in short, sharp, intense bursts of advertising.) In making all these

decisions,themediaagencywillbegreatlyinfluencedbypastexperience.They

willknowaboutcampaignsthathavebeenruninpastyears,andhowlongthey

have lasted. Likemilitarystrategists,they will aim constantly to surprise their

clients’competitorsbyout-manoeuvringthem.



Just as the creative agency will constantly be looking for innovative and

impactfulwaystocommunicatetheadvertisingmessages,themediaagencywill

constantlybelookingforinnovativeandimpactfulwaystospendtheavailable

budget–solongasitreachestherightfish,atthelowestpossiblecost.



Internetanddigital



As was emphasized in Chapter 2, digital advertising has been enjoying rapid

growththroughouttheworld.Sofar,thisgrowthhasalmostentirelyinvolvedthe

Internet,ratherthantelephony.Aswithcreativeagencies,mediaagencieshave

split into generalists – agencies that handle the entire range of available

advertising media; and digital specialists, which focus exclusively on digital

media.Atthemoment,thegreaterpartofInternetadvertisingishandledbythe

generalistagencies,but,asinthecreativesphere,thissituationisfluidandcould

easilychangeoverthecomingyears.



Whethergeneralistorspecialist,mediaagencieshavetobeconversantwiththe

quitedifferenttypesofadvertisingthatappearontheInternet,ofwhichthethree

mostimportantare:



• Display advertising – banners, pop-ups, sponsorships, and other

‘intrusive’communicationswhichworkinmuchthesamewayandwith

the same objectives as all display advertising. They aim to bring the

brandtothe attentionofthetargetmarketbybuildingawareness– and

sometimes, but not always, they offer the opportunity to click through

from the advertisement to the advertiser’s website. Display advertising

accountsforaround20%ofallInternetadvertisingrevenue.

• Search advertising – ‘search’ is the great strength of the Internet, and

accountsforapproximately60%ofallInternetadvertisingrevenue(the

remaining percentage of Internet advertising is accounted for by

recruitment classifieds). It is most similar to, in traditional advertising,

directoryandclassifiedadvertising.Butitsspeedandcomprehensiveness

areuniquetotheInternet.Searchcompanies–suchasGoogle,Yahoo!,

andMSN–carryadvertisers’announcementsinlistingswhichencourage

peopletoclick-throughtotheadvertiser’swebsitetofindoutmore,and

often to buy what they want, directly, online. The position of the

advertiser’s listing on the screen will hugely influence the response it

achieves. Research has shown that the first announcements seen by

anyonesearching,orsurfing,theInternetgather thegreatestnumber of

click-throughs. Advertisers therefore pay the search companies a

premiumtobeatthetop,ornearthetop,oftheirlistings.

• Websites – websites are most similar, in terms of traditional media, to

leaflets,brochures,andcatalogues. As with ‘search’, theusertakes the

initiativeandseeksoutthewebsite,eitherviaasearchlistingordirectly

viaitsdomainname.Thesituationiscomplicatedbythefactthatnotall

websites are commercial. Many individuals, and many groups, design

andbuildtheirownwebsites.Thereisnochargeforthis,beyondthecost

ofbuildingandregisteringthesite.The‘cost’ofwebsitesisthereforenot

included in Internet advertising expenditure data. Major advertisers,

especiallyretailers,selldirectlyfromtheirwebsites,makingwebsitesan

exceptionallycost-efficientwaytoobtainsales.

AstheInternetcontinuestodevelop,newmeansofadvertising–viablogsand

social networking sites, for example – continuously come on stream, though

mostofthemfindithardtocaptureasmuchadvertisingrevenueastheyhoped

for.



Like television, the Internet is highly effective for targeting different

demographicgroups,byspecialinterests,activities,andatdifferenttimesduring

thedayandnight.Internetuserscanbeidentified,andtheirpurchasingandother

characteristics can be related directly to them. This makes personal Internet

targetingfarmoreaccuratethananyother.



DisplayadvertisingontheInternetischargedandpaidforinmuchthesameway

as display advertising in other media. The rate paid by the advertiser is

determinedbythesizeandnatureoftheaudiencereached,andbythesizeand

nature of the advertisement itself. And as has already been noted, there is no

‘mediacharge’forpostingawebsite.



‘Search’advertising,however,hasdevelopeditsownuniquemeansofcharging:

payperclick.Howmuchtheadvertiserpaysthesearchcompanyforappearing

onitssitewilldependonpreciselyhowmanytimesInternetusersclick-through

fromthelistingtotheadvertiser’swebsite.Thismeansthattheadvertiser’scost

willbedirectlyrelatedtothenumberofvisitorsthewebsitereceives,andalmost

certainly will then be related, albeit less directly, to sales achieved. This close

relationship makes the evaluation of Internet search advertising more

quantifiablethanmostotherformsofadvertising–thoughnomorequantifiable

thantraditionaldirectmail.



The campaign is now ready to ‘go to bed’. The creative work has been

completedbythecreativeagency,themediahavebeenchosenandboughtbythe

mediaagency.Theadvertiserhasapprovedtheentirepackage,andthestarting

gunis atthe ready. Throughoutthe developmentprocess,marketresearchwill

have been used – and it will continue to be used to check the progress of the

campaignonceitislaunched.Letusnowlookathowmarketresearchfitsinto

thepicture.



Chapter7

Research,research,research



Earlydays



Advertisingcanbesoexpensive,socomplex,andtheresultssounpredictable,

thatadvertisershavelongsoughttoformulateruleswhich,likescientificlaws,

will guarantee results. They have hoped there might be a Golden Key, as

mentioned at the start of this book, which would unlock the secret of sales

success.Inphysics,scientistsknowthatiftheydoA,thenBwillfollow;ifthey

do Y, then Z will follow. Might there be some way of achieving the same in

advertising? Over 100 years ago there was already a seat of Advertising

PsychologyatNorth-WesternUniversity,Chicago.TheProfessorofAdvertising

Psychology, Professor Walter Dill Scott, addressed the advertising industry

AgateClubin1901onthesubject:‘ThePsychologyofInvoluntaryAttentionas

AppliedtoAdvertising’,andin1909hepublishedabooktitledThePsychology

ofAdvertising.Thiswasthefirstofcountlessstudiesthathaveaimedtoshow,in

psychologicalterms,exactlyhowadvertisingworks.



Some14yearslater,in1923,stillsearchingfortheelusiveGoldenKey,oneof

the greatest American advertising copywriters of all time, Claude Hopkins,

published a book called Scientific Advertising. To today’s generation of

advertisingpeople,thenotionthatanyonecouldhaveclaimedtoturnadvertising

intoasciencenearlyacenturyagoismorethanatrifleludicrous.Nonetheless,

Hopkins’sbookbecame–andstillis–aclassic.Hopkinsspecializedindirect

response,couponadvertising,wheretheresultsofadvertisementscanbeexactly

measuredby countingthecouponssentin.Usingthe couponresponse datahe

acquired over many decades, he developed rules for writing successful

advertisements, and many of his rules remain true today – for coupon

advertisements. But they do not necessarily hold true for uncouponed

advertisements for branded goods; and of course, radio, television, and many

othermodernadvertisingmediadidnotevenexistin1923.However,theattempt

to turn advertising into a science did not cease. But as worldwide advertising

expenditures fell during the 1930s Great Depression, and during and after the

SecondWorldWar,therewasalullinactivity.



Bythe early1950s,advertisinghadstartedtoboomagain. IntheUSA,anew

movementthatbelievedithadfoundtheGoldenKeyemergedinNewYorkand

Chicago.Thiswascalledmotivationresearch,sometimescalleddepthresearch,

anditwaslooselybasedonFreudianpsychoanalytictheory.Itsthesiswasthat

consumers’buyingbehaviourwasmoreoftenemotionalthanrational,andwas

influenced–indeedcontrolled–bypeople’ssubconsciousdesires.Theresearch

technique employed trained psychologists or psychotherapists to carry out

lengthy, one-to-one interviews with consumers, probing their subconscious

mindsinmuchthesamewayaswouldbedoneinclinicalanalysis.Theseone-

to-ones were, and still are, called ‘depth interviews’. Two highly competitive

meneachclaimedtobethe‘father’ofthistypeofresearch:DrErnestDichter

(muchthemorefamous)andLouisCheskin.Bothhadtrainedaspsychologists

and had psychoanalytic experience, and both claimed to have started

experimentingwiththeuseofdepthprobingsinthe1930s,eventhoughtheydid

notcometotheforeuntiltwodecadeslater.



Motivationresearchisthesubjectofwhatisstillthebest-knownandbest-selling

bookaboutadvertisingeverwritten:TheHiddenPersuaders,byVancePackard

(1957). In this book, Dichter, Cheskin, and others make impressive claims

regarding the powers of their research techniques. Dr Dichter, for example,

claimsthatsuccessfuladvertising:



manipulateshumanmotivationsanddesiresanddevelopsaneedforgoodswith

whichthepublichasatonetimebeenunfamiliar–perhapsevenundesirousof

purchasing.



Healsoclaims:‘Weundresspeopleintermsoftheirrationalisations.’



Suchclaimscausedgreatconcerntomanymembersofthepublic,whodidnot

liketheideaoftheirrationalizationsbeing‘undressed’,northeirmotivationsand

desiresbeingpsychologicallymanipulated.Itmadethemsoundlikepuppetson

advertising strings. And this was the scary theme of Vance Packard’s book,

whichmadeitsuchasalessuccess.Thiswastheerawhen‘brainwashing’was

muchtalkedabout,largelyasaconsequenceoftheshowtrialsinthecommunist

USSR,wherethoseaccusedwere‘brainwashed’intoparrotingtheirconfessions

robotically. Or so it was believed. The American Central Intelligence Agency

(CIA)wasneuroticallyobsessedabouttheputativeabilityofcommunistregimes

to exert mind control. (The classic brainwashing movie, The Manchurian

Candidate,wasmadein1962.)Butthepowertocontrolpeople’sbrains,inthe

waysmanythenfeared,hasneverexisted–andithascertainlyneverexistedin

advertising. It must never be forgotten that the claims of researchers – and

indeedofadvertisingpeoplethemselves–areoftenboastfulandself-serving.It

is in their financial interests to convince advertisers that their researches, and

theiradvertising,areexceptionallypotent.Thiswaytheywinmoreclients,and

the clients spend more money on advertising. So their claims should be taken

with sizable pinches of salt: they are frequently exaggerated, and sometimes

downrightuntruthful.



Thiswasunquestionablysointhecaseofwhatbecame,andremains,oneofthe

mostnotoriouspiecesof‘research’inadvertisinghistory.In1957,anAmerican

market researcher called James Vicary claimed to have substantially increased

the sales of Coca-Cola and popcorn in a cinema in Fort Lee, New Jersey, by

flashing the messages ‘Drink Coca-Cola’ and ‘Eat Popcorn’ on the cinema

screensoquickly theaudiencedidnotconsciouslyseethe messagesatall.He

dubbedthisprocess‘subliminaladvertising’–fromtheLatinsub(beneath)and

limen (sensory perception). Vicary’s findings immediately aroused a welter of

publicdisquiet. Vance Packardpublicized theVicary experimentin thesecond

editionofTheHiddenPersuaders.Peopleeverywheregrewprofoundlyalarmed

about being manipulated by subliminal advertising without knowing it was

happening.InBritain,subliminaladvertisingwasalmostimmediatelybannedby

thetelevisionauthorities.ButVicaryhadneverpersuadedanyone,subliminally,

tobuyCoca-Colaandpopcorn.In1962,headmittedthewholethinghadbeena

hoax,andnobodyhaseverbeenabletoreplicatetheexperimentheclaimedto

have carried out. Subliminal advertising, which people still talk about and

agonize about, has never existed. (Recent studies have shown that subliminal

communications of various kinds can occur, but there is no proof they can be

usedinadvertising.)



Nonetheless, the phrases ‘hidden persuaders’ and ‘subliminal advertising’

enteredthevernacular,andbecamecommonusage.Somuchsothatthetitleof

the next highly questionable investigation into the powers of advertising was

SubliminalSeduction,abookpublishedin1975byProfessorWilsonBryanKey

of the University of Western Ontario. Subliminal Seduction, like The Hidden

Persuaders before it, became a best-seller by playing on the public’s fear of

beingmanipulatedby‘secret’advertisingmessages–thoughitwasnotnearlyas

successfulasitspredecessor.



ProfessorKeybelievedthatmessagespromisingsexualsuccesswereencrypted

– he used the word ‘embedded’ – in advertisements. He claimed that these

embeddings, like subliminal advertising (which had already been disproved),

were not seen consciously but nonetheless controlled consumers’ behaviour.

ProfessorKeyclaimed:



14.JamesVicary:his1957experimentwith‘subliminaladvertising’in

NewJerseywasahoax



Everymajoradvertisingagencyhasatleastoneembeddingtechnicianinits

artdepartment.Thetechniqueistaughtatmostcommercialartschools.



This is codswallop. There is not, and never has been, any such thing as an

‘embeddingtechnician’inanadvertisingagency.Butonceagain,thebeliefthat

all,ormost,advertisingworksbypromisingsexualsuccesshasstuck.Countless

media articles and debates are built on the belief that sex constantly perks up

advertising,andthatsexwillsellanything:sexisthelong-searched-forGolden

Key.Thisiscodswalloptoo.Thereisalmostnosexinadvertising,thoughmost

people refuse to believe it. There are sexy advertisements for perfumes and

cosmetics,forfashionandlingerie–allproductswherealittleeroticismhardly

comesamiss.Mildly sexy advertisementsforother products come andgo,but

whenanicecream(Haagen-Dazs)hadthetemeritytouseplayfulbutinnocuous

sexyimagesinitsBritishcampaign,theattendantflurryofnudge-nudge,wink-

wink publicity beggared belief. This would never have happened if raunchy

advertisingwerecommonplace.Itwouldbeastonishingifsexwerecompletely

absentfromadvertisements.Butaretheresexyadvertisementsforsupermarkets,

forhouseholdcleansers,formedicines,forfinancialproducts?Hardlyever.



Thepublicinsisttheydonotlikesexdraggedintocampaignsirrelevantly,and

about one-fifth of the complaints to the UK Advertising Standards Authority

concern taste and decency. Moreover, nowadays more than 40% of consumer

spending is by the over-50s. They aren’t all celibate, but lust is perhaps not

uppermostintheirminds.Forallthesereasons,advertisementsveertowardsthe

primratherthantheprurient.Youwillneverseeremotelyexplicitsex,orfull-

frontalnudity,inadvertisementsintheUKorUSA.Comparedtothemediathat

surroundthem, advertisementsportray averitably sanitizedworld –unrealistic

inbeingfartooprudish,ratherthantoolicentious.



Theuniquesellingproposition



Almost all of the above theories came from people outside of advertising:

academics and researchers. But one of the most celebrated and influential

advertisingresearchprocessescamefromwithinanadvertisingagency–andit

helped build that agency into one of the largest in the world. The agency in

question was called after its founder, Ted Bates. The Ted Bates agency was

convinced it had found the elusive Golden Key. Starting in New York, Ted

Bates’s agency quickly built itself into a worldwide network. The advertising

process it developed is always known by its public ‘face’, the unique selling

proposition (USP). But in reality, the USP process is a complete campaign

developmentsystem,inwhichresearchplaysanintegralpart.



The USP system certainly starts out by stating that all advertising campaigns

should search for, and single-mindedly hammer home, the single fact about a

brandwhichdifferentiatesitfromitscompetitorsandwillmakepeoplebuy:the

USP.ButoncethisUSPhasbeenidentified,andincorporatedintoacampaign,

theresearch aspectsofthesystemkick in.When thecampaign isrunning,the

public’s awareness of the USP is tracked by research – a measurement we’ll

returntointhenextsection–andtwofiguresarecalculated:



1) The percentage of the public who buy the brand and who know the

advertisingUSP.

2) The percentage of the public who buy the brand but do not know the

advertisingUSP.

Thedifferencebetween(1)and(2)TedBatescalled‘usagepull’.Aslongas(1)

is larger than (2) – the agency claimed – the extent by which it was larger

representedtheadditionalpercentageofthepopulationtheUSPhadpersuaded

tobuythebrand.Thissoundslogical:ifmorepeoplewhoknowtheUSPbuythe

brand,presumablyitistheUSPthathaspersuadedthemtobuy.Andthegreater

thedifferencebetween(1)and(2),thegreaterthepoweroftheUSP.If(2)was

moreorlessthesameas(1),thentheUSPwasnotpersuadinganybodyextrato

buythebrand:theUSPwasunpersuasive.Andinthoseunusualcaseswhere(2)

was larger than (1) – where among those who knew the USP, fewer people

boughtthebrandthanthosewhodidnotknowit–theUSPwasactuallyputting

people off, the usage pull was negative. A campaign that did not demonstrate

sufficientlypositiveusagepullwoulditselfbepulledoffair.



TedBatesclaimedthatbyaccuratelyidentifyingUSPs,andthenmeasuringtheir

usagepull,theycouldsignificantlyincreaseadvertisingeffectiveness.Andfrom

theearly1940suntilthelate1960s,theBatesagencydevelopedandpublicized

this system with immense success. During those years, the agency did indeed

producesomehighlyeffectivecampaignsfortheirclients–particularlyforthe

MarsCorporation,formanyyearstheirlargestinternationalclient–andthisin

turnpersuadedmany more clientsto appoint them.TheUSP was Bates’s own

USP,anditsusagepullamongclientswasconsiderable.



However, over the decades, three changes occurred that seriously undermined

theUSPsystem.First,researchersshowedthatpeoplewhoregularlyuseabrand

–anybrand–arefarmorelikelytoknowitsadvertisingthanpeoplewhodonot

use it. This is called ‘feedback’. So usage pull was back-to-front. It isn’t

knowingtheadvertisingthatpersuadesyoutouseabrand:ifyouuseabrand,

youtendtoknowitsadvertising.Ortobestillmoreexact,boththingshappenat

once,andcausationeitherwayisimpossibletoprove.



Second, as economies grew more affluent, and more and more products came

onto the market, the functional differences between different brands often

becameimperceptible.Themaindifferenceswerebrandimagedifferences–the

publicperceivedthebrandsdifferently,sometimesknowingfullwelltheyhadall

butindistinguishableproductspecifications.Sobrandimageadvertisinggrewin

importance,andtheimportanceoftraditionalUSPadvertisingdwindled.



Third,andassociatedwiththis,theUSPsystemwashighlyverbal.AUSPmust

beafactexpressedinwords,sothatpeople’srecallofitiseasytoassess.But

conveyingbrandimagesmaybemorevisualthanverbal,andmanycommercials

may also employ powerful (wordless) music. As Dr Dichter had insisted,

consumers often buy products for emotional rather than rational reasons –

reasonstheythemselvesmaynotbeabletoidentify,letaloneputintowords.



TheUSP system went outoffashion, and with itTed Bates’s own usagepull.

However,thebasicprincipleofidentifyingthesinglefactwhichdifferentiatesa

brandfromitscompetitors,whereonesuchfactcanbeidentified,remainsakey

factorinmostmodernadvertisingstrategies.



Researchtoday



Advertisingresearchtodayhasnaturallyabsorbedmuchofthishistoriclearning,

andhaslongagostoppedsearchingfor anover-archingGoldenKey.Research

todaydealswiththeseparatepartsoftheadvertisingprocessbitbybit,seeking

toimprovepotencyandeffectivenessincrementallyasthecampaigndevelops.It

isunlikelythatanybodynowworkinginadvertisingbelievestherewilleverbea

holistic,scientificthesiswhichwillguaranteetheeffectivenessofallcampaigns.

Everyonerecognizesthatadvertisingisfartoocomplex,andtooheterogeneous,

forthistobepossible.



The principal division in campaign research today is between pre-testing and

post-launch tracking. Most of the former is carried out under the aegis of the

creative agencies; most of the latter is carried out under the aegis of the

advertisers,employingtheirownchosenresearchcompanies.



Pre-testing



Aswehaveseen,acampaignstartstotakeshapewhenagencyaccountplanners

have drawn up an advertising strategy, and this has been agreed by their

colleagues and by their client. The strategy will include what the advertising

campaign must communicate, and to which target market. In the chapter on

agencies and creativity, we saw that account planners return to the campaign

developmentprocessoncethecreativeteamhascomeupwithitsinitialideas,or

concepts. At this stage, they test out the concepts on a sample of the target

market.



Thistestingisalmostalwayscarriedoutinfocusgroupsofeighttotenpeople,

though one-to-one interviews, of the kind pioneered by the motivation

researchers, may also occasionally be used. It is vitally important for the

interviewees–whetheringroupsorindividually–tobedrawnfrommembersof

thetargetmarket.Ifthewrongsampleisinterviewed,theresultswillnotonlybe

irrelevant, they may positively be misleading. To give a simple example: if

saloon car drivers are interviewed about a sports car advertisement, they are

likely to be highly concerned about the car’s safety, and to want safety

informationhighlightedintheadvertising.Sportscardrivers,incontrast,willbe

relatively unconcerned about safety, but extremely interested in driving

performanceandhandling.Asthesalooncardriversaremostunlikelytobuythe

sportscar,incorporatingtheiropinionswillpositivelynegatetheeffectivenessof

thecampaign.Butsurprisingasitmayseem,suchmistakesarefrequentlymade.



Inafocusgroup,eighttotenpeoplearebroughttogether,andtheydiscussthe

creativeconceptsshowntothem,undertheguidanceofaskilledgroupleader–

usuallyanexperiencedmarketresearcheroraccountplanner.Theadvantagesof

focusgroupsoverone-to-oneinterviewsarethreefold.Focusgroupsarefarless

expensive;theyarefaster–interviewingeighttotenpeopleatonceisinevitably

quicker to accomplish than interviewing them individually; and above all, the

groupmembersprovokereactionsfromeachotherinteractively,whichthegroup

leaderwillbeabletoencouragethemtoexploretogether.Thedisadvantagesof

focus groups are that the individuals will not have much time to express their

personal views; consequently, it is almost impossible to probe deeply into

individual responses; and shy individuals may get trampled upon by others –

thoughexperiencedgroupleadersaimtoensurethisdoesnothappen.Ithasalso

been shown that even experienced group leaders tend to influence what the

respondentssay,tryastheymaytoavoiddoingso.(Thisalsooccursinone-to-

ones.)



Almost always, several focus groups will be carried out – relying on a single

groupisfartoochancy–andthepersonwhohashandledthemwillconsolidate

thefindings,listeningagainandagaintotaperecordingsofthediscussions,and

studying the responses carefully. He or she will then meet the creative team,

togetherwiththeaccountexecutive,andgothroughthefindings.Ifcertainofthe

findings are negative, the creative team will usually be able to amend the

advertisement concept so that it overcomes the target market’s concerns. But

sometimes this is not possible, and the idea or ideas have to be totally

abandoned. Then it is back to the drawing board! As has been said above,

creativeteamsdonotgenerallyliketheirworkbeingcriticizedandpickedapart

inthisway–andtheysometimesarguefiercelywiththeresearchfindings–but

intheend,theyhavetoacceptthesystem.



Onlywhenanadvertisementconcepthascomethroughthisprocesswithflying

colours will it be presented, together with the findings of the research, to the

client. The famous 1990s ‘Guinness Surfers’ commercial (loosely based on

Moby Dick) which in May 2000 was voted by the British public ‘The Best

BritishAdvertisementEver’isafineexampleoftheaccountplanningprocessin

action. Account planners repeatedly researched it, and its future was often in

jeopardy until creative solutions could be found to the problems the research

uncovered.Thisalltookoverayear–buttheoutcomewasworthit.



Onthetrack



Trackingstudiesbeganinthe1950s,butdidnotbecomethedominantformof

post-launchcampaignevaluationuntilthe1990s.Astheirnameimplies,tracking

studiestracktheimpactofacampaignafterithasbegun,withregularsurveys.

The survey questions can cover many areas: respondents’ recall of the

advertising campaign, or of different parts of the campaign; respondents’

attitudestothecampaign – what they thought was good/bad,whatthey found

interesting/uninteresting, what they liked/disliked, what they found

persuasive/unpersuasive,andsoon.



Thetrackingsurveysmaybecarriedoutmonthly,bi-monthly,orquarterly.Less

frequent surveys hardly ‘track’ a campaign, but may be employed when the

campaign utilizes irregular bursts of advertising, as lightweight campaigns

frequentlydo.Itisvitalforeachsuccessivetrackingsurveytousepreciselythe

same questions as its predecessors, to be comparable, and each survey must

interviewexactly matched samplesof respondents. Eventhe tiniest changesin

question wording or in sample structure can produce wild and seemingly

inexplicablefluctuationsinresponselevels.Consistencyalsomakesitpossible

toaggregatenormativedata.Overtheyears,researchcompaniesandadvertisers

have learned what levels of response are averagely achievable, for any given

levelofadvertisingexpenditure,inanygivenmarket.



Generallyspeaking,thetracking data which carries mostweightis advertising

awareness: what percentage of the public remembers the advertising? The

presupposition is that consumers will not respond to advertising they cannot

remember. However, it has frequently beenshown that consumers may not be

influenced by advertising they do remember, while sometimes consumers are

influenced by advertising they do not remember, at least not consciously. So

advertising awareness is only an approximate, proxy guide to campaign

effectiveness, even though it is widely used as a useful, rough and ready,

assessment.



Noris‘awareness’asstraightforwardasitsounds.Aswesawinthesectionon

USPs,awarenessisstronglyinfluencedby‘feedback’.Hencemajorbrands,used

by large swathes of the population, tend automatically to achieve higher

awareness levels than smaller brands, used by minorities. And there are great

differences between spontaneous (or top-of-mind) awareness and prompted

awareness (‘Do you remember any advertising for chocolate?’ versus ‘Do you

remember this advertisement for Mars Bars?’). Verbal, factual messages are

easiertoremember,oranywayeasiertorelateduringresearchinterviews,than

visualoremotivemessages.Higherlevelsofawarenessareusuallygeneratedby

‘public’ media – television, print, posters, for example – than by ‘private’ and

tightlytargetedmedia(directmail,emails,andtextmessages,forexample).But

although tightly targeted media generate low awareness, they may be

exceptionally sales-effective among those to whom they have been personally

addressed.



Despite these caveats, many advertisers now set key performance indicators

(KPIs)based ontrackingresults.Forexample:‘TheKPI fortheadvertisingat

theendofthecampaignisanawarenesslevelofxx%,whichmustbeachieved–

orelse!’IfthecampaigndoesnotachievethetargetedKPI,itmaywellbepulled

off air: the advertiser may feel that continuing to run it would be a waste of

money. So agencies live in mortal fear that the next tracking result for a

campaign they have produced will be a poor one. This is not unwarranted:

agencieshavebeenfiredforconsistentlyachievingpoortrackingratings.



Fewexperiencedadvertisersbelievetrackingstudiesarethebe-allandend-allof

post-launchcampaignevaluation–buttheyhavebecomemuchthemostwidely

usedsystem.



Othertechniques



Thoughfocusgroups(pre-campaignlaunch) andtrackingstudies (post-launch)

havebecomethestandardmeansofadvertisingevaluation,researchersregularly

inventnewtechniques whichtheyhopewillbemoreaccurate,or moresubtle,

than these. Almost always, such new techniques are heavily publicized by the

researcherswhoinventthem,andgarneragreatdealofpublicityatfirst–then

fadeaway.



Inthe1960s,forexample,forashortwhilepupildilationbecameafashionable

measurement technique. Psychologists had shown that respondent’s pupils

unconsciouslydilatewhentheyareshownimagestheygreatlylike(anattractive

girlshowntoyoungmales,forexample),andtheirpupilsshrinkwhentheyare

shownimagestheydislike(prisonersinNaziconcentrationcamps,forexample).

The eyes can be photographed while they view the images, and the pupil

changesmeasured.Itwasthereforehypothesizedthatpupildilationwouldbea

good way of measuring people’s responses to advertisements. However, the

differencescausedbyadvertisementsarefarsmallerthanthosecausedbymore

extreme visuals – and anyway, during the transmission of a television

commercialpupilsize changesconstantly,especiallyin responsetolighter and

darkerimages.Sopupildilationfailedtocatchon.



Eye-tracking–followinghoweyes movewhen theylookatthings– hasbeen

used by psychologists in laboratories for around a century. But more recently

commercial use has been made of infra-red eye-tracking goggles, which are

portableandwhichshowpreciselyhowtheeyewanders.Thistechniquecanbe

helpfulinexploringthewayspeopleabsorbdifferentpartsofanadvertisement,

particularly a print advertisement. But it is no measurement of advertising

persuasiveness.



Otherdevicesthatcanbehelpfulincludetachistoscopes,whereanadvertisement

isrevealedforshorterandshorterintervalsandrespondentsareaskedwhatthey

cansee–ratherasinanoptician’seyetest.Sweatmeasurementisanindicatorof

involvementandexcitement.Interestdials,whererespondentstwistasmalldial

whilewatchingcommercialstoshowthepartsofthecommercialtheyfindordo

not find interesting, can reveal useful information. And most recently, brain

mapping,wherepeople’sbrainresponsesareMRI-scannedwhiletheyareshown

advertisements and – it is once again hoped – the scans will reveal their true,

unconscious responses. Some researchers hold out great hopes for MRI brain-

scanningtechniquesforthispurpose.Allthatcanbesaidatthemomentisthat

theyarealongwayoffproducinganyreallyusefuldata.



Chapter8

Thegood,thebad,andtheugly



‘Theall-deafeningblastofpuffery’



Perhapsbecauseitissointrusive,andperhapsbecausepeoplearesuspiciousof

its manipulative powers, advertising has long been subject to criticism,

antagonism, and fear – far more so in Britain than in the USA. The snooty

attitude of the British aristocracy, and of British intellectuals, to trade and

commerce of all kinds is of long standing, as is their distaste for selling and

salesmen.Theseattitudesaremuchlessprevalent(thoughnottotallyunknown)

ontheothersideoftheAtlantic.Aslongagoas1830,theBritishessayistand

historian Thomas Macaulay, decrying advertising, wrote: ‘We expect some

reserve,somedecent pride,in ourhatterand bootmaker.’ Notlongafterwards,

theScottishintellectualThomasCarlylewassimilarlysouraboutwhathecalled

‘theall-deafeningblastofpuffery’.Bytheendofthe19thcentury,aninfluential

pressure group called SCAPA (Society for Controlling Abuses of Public

Advertising)publishedamembershiplistthatincludedmanyofthemostnotable

writersandartistsoftheday.WilliamMorris,RudyardKipling,HolmanHunt,

SirArthur Quiller-Couch, andSir JohnMillais wereallSCAPAmembers.But

thepublicwasapathetic;500copiesofaSCAPApamphletwereprinted,only30

weresold.



This broad pattern of response to advertising has continued ever since. Many,

perhapsmost,writers,academics,andevenpoliticiansaretoagreaterorlesser

extentantagonistictoadvertising,ahostilitywhichthemassofthepublicdoes

notshare. However,theformergroupcontrols manyof thelevers ofpowerin

society. So, ever since the middle of the 19th century, advertising has been

increasinglyhedgedaboutbylawsandcontrols–probablymorethananyother

singletrade.



ThiswasspotlitwhencommercialtelevisioncametoBritainin1955.Whilethe

Bill that introduced commercial television was passing through the House of

Lords,LordReith,theintense,puritanScotwhowasthedrivingforcebehindthe

development of the BBC from 1922 to 1938, compared the introduction of

televisionadvertising with theintroduction into Britainof smallpox,theBlack

Death,andthebubonicplague.Othernoblelordsfeltsimilarly.LordHailsham

likened commercial television to ‘a Caliban emerging from his slimy cavern’.

Lord Esher forecast ‘a planned and premeditated orgy of vulgarity’. Most of

thesehorrificfearswerebasedonwhatmanyBritishintellectualsbelievedwas

the coarse and crass nature of American television. The public did not share

thesefears;theywelcomedcommercialtelevisionwithopenarms.



However, parliament exerted its austere powers. The Act that brought British

commercial television into being enshrined precepts which determinedly

differentiateditfromthedreadedAmericanmodel.Inparticular,advertisements

would havetobetotally separated from programmes – hencetheinvention of

the‘commercialbreak’–andthetotalquantity ofadvertisingpermittedwould

be strictly controlled(initiallyjust 6 minutes per hour). A statutory committee

wouldcontrolstandardsofadvertising,andthiscommitteewoulddrawupaset

of rules which would have to be precisely followed. British viewers, the

parliamentariansbelieved,neededtobeprotectedfromtheexcessesofAmerican

commercialization–andtheywere.BeforeacommercialcanbemadeinBritain,

thescripthastobeapproved,toensureitmeetstherequiredadvertisingrules.

After it has been filmed, it has to be approved again, to ensure the script has

beenrenderedaccurately,withnolibertiestaken.Theregulator’sinterpretation

of the advertising rules is meticulous, and both advertisers and agencies have

constantly railed against how unimaginatively the rules are applied. But the

parliamentaryAct, anditssuccessor Acts,insistthe rulesbe minutelyadhered

to.



TheAdvertisingStandardsAuthority



From its inception, then, television advertising in Britain was statutorily

controlled. But the situation in other media was very different. The press, in

particular,hadbattledhardforitsfreedomsduringthe18thand19thcenturies,

whenpoliticianshadconstantlytriedtohandcuffitandrestrictwhatitcouldsay.

While these battles primarily concerned editorial freedoms, they also involved

advertising freedoms. Advertisers were free to say what they liked, as long as

theydidnotbreakthelaw–anditisfairtosaythatmanylessthanscrupulous

advertiserspushedtheirfreedomtothelimit.Inthemid-19thcentury,advertisers

would promise to cure every malady known to mankind and quite a few that

werenot–suchas‘DEATHintheBoot,isthenewafflictionwithwhichallwho

wear footwear are threatened’ – safely cured, one is relieved to hear, by

‘O’Brien’s Patent Watertight Waist FootholdGolosh’. Nor were our American

cousinstobeoutdone.InNewYork,aDrScottinventedanextensiverangeof

‘electric’ products utilizing the almost magical power of the then recently

discoveredelectricity.Onewasan‘ElectricCigarette’.Anotherwas‘Dr.Scott’s

ElectricPlaster–ANEWINVENTION–electricallycuredColds,Coughsand

Chest Pains, Nervous, Muscular and Neuralgic pains, Stomach, Kidney and

Liver Pains, Dyspeptic, Malarial and other Pains, Rheumatism, Gout and

Inflammation’, all achieved ‘IN ONE TO THREE HOURS … if not entirely

satisfactory the price will be cheerfully refunded’. So the evidence is

unequivocal.Lefttotheirowndevices,advertiserswilleagerlypushtheirclaims

tothelimitoftruth–andsometimeswellbeyond.



15.Lefttotheirowndevices,advertiserswilleagerlypushtheirclaimsto

thelimitsoftruth,andoftenwellbeyond



Consequently, advertisers’freedoms couldnotremain whollyunconstrained.A

landmarkcaseoccurredin1891,whenaMrsCarlillboughta‘CarbolicSmoke

Bomb’whoseadvertisementguaranteedprotectionagainstinfluenza(andmany

otherillnesses),or£100reward.TheSmokeBombbombed.MrsCarlillcaught

the’flu,suedforher£100underCommonLaw,andwon.



The court viewed the advertisement as a contract. Thereafter, the UK Sale of

Goods Act was passed in 1893, which greatly increased consumers’ civil

remediesoverandabovethoseprovidedbytheCommonLaw.The20thcentury

sawacontinuingescalationofthelegalpowerofconsumers,againstadvertisers.



Formembersofthepublic,however,takingerrantadvertiserstocourtisatime-

consumingandcostlybusiness–andthereisnoguaranteethecomplainantwill

winthecase.Itquicklybecameapparentthatthepublicneededtobeprotected

by an advertising control system far less ponderous, and less expensive, than

solicitorsandcourts. EvenbeforetheSecondWorldWar,pressurebuiltupfor

theadvertisingindustrytoputitshouseinorder,andtoregulateitself.In1927,

the UK Advertising Association set up the first self-regulatory National

Vigilance Committee, which a year later was expanded into the Advertising

Investigation Department (AID). Though puny by today’s standards, the AID

helped drive shady operators out of business, persuaded agencies to stop

handling fraudulent advertisers’ campaigns, and dealt with 1,169 complaints

fromthepublicin12monthsduring1936–7.



AftertheSecondWorldWar,onceWesterneconomieswerethrivingagain,from

the 1960s onwards, consumerism – consumers lobbying for better trading

standards and for consumer protection – grew apace. In 1962, the first

Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) was set up to handle consumer

complaintsaboutadvertising.ButitsoonbecameclearthisASAwasatoothless

tiger. It was underfunded, and therefore understaffed, and its powers were

nominal.Justover a decade later, in1974,Britain found itself withasocialist

government led by left-wing Prime Minister Harold Wilson. Wilson scorned

advertising, believing it to be a waste of economic resources (as did many

economists at this time). In 1974, the advertising industry was warned by the

governmentthatifitdidnotcontrolnon-televisionadvertisingaseffectivelyas

televisionwasalreadycontrolled,newlawswouldbeenactedwhichwouldforce

ittodoso.Aswehaveseen,theprintmedia’sdislikeofgovernmentcontrolsis

burieddeepintheirDNA,sothisthreatspurredtheprintmedia,andadvertisers,

intoanimmediateresponse.



In 1975, a far larger, and far better funded, Advertising Standards Authority

openedforbusiness.Themoneywasraised–andisstillraised–bya0.1%levy

on all advertising expenditure, paid by advertisers and collected by their

agencies. Its independence from pressure by advertisers was built into its

fundamentalstructure.Incooperationwiththeadvertisingindustry,andwiththe

approval of the government, Codes of Advertising Practice were written, and

theseare regularlyupdated.It istheASA’s roleto enforcetheseCodes, andit

was not long before the new ASA showed its claws, in a series of tough

decisions against misleading and dishonest advertisers. Public and political

respect for the ASA grew apace, and its powers have since been consistently

extended. In the early 1990s, direct mail and direct marketing were brought

undertheASA’swing.In2004,televisionandradioadvertisingregulationwas

entrustedto it,acompletereversalof thesituationinearlieryears. Andtoday,

mostInternetadvertisingalsocomeswithinitscontrol.Alevyof0.1%doesnot

soundthatmuch–itisn’tthatmuch–butitraisesaround£10millionannually.

Consequently,theASA’shighlytrainedstaffofmorethan100peopleisableto

dealwithover25,000publiccomplaintsagainstadvertisingeachyear–ofwhich

fewerthan10%normallyprovejustified.



TheASAisnowwidelyregardedasanexemplarofenlightenedself-regulation,

both in advertising and outside of advertising, in Britain and throughout the

world.



Brandsandbadhabits



Successful though it has been, the ASA deals only with individual

advertisements,onaone-by-onebasis,decidingwhethertheyinfringetheCodes

ofAdvertisingPractice.Thissystem,however,sidestepsquestionsrelatingtothe

advertisingofentireproductgroups:alcohol,forexample,orfastcars,orfatty

foods – or cigarettes. Consideration of the role of entire advertising sectors

remainstheresponsibilityofgovernments.



Fromtheearly1960sonwards,cigarettesweretheadvertisingcausecélèbreon

whichpolitical,medical,andpublicattentionfocused.Advertisingandsmoking

first became an issue in March 1962, when the Royal College of Physicians

publishedits‘SmokingandHealth’report.Twoyearslater,inJanuary1964,the

US Surgeon General published his own report on the connections between

smoking and health. Both reports established a close correlation between

smokingandseriousillnesses,especiallylungcancer,andbothcalledforaban

oncigaretteadvertisingtochildren.InBritain,thisresultedinacallforatotal

banontelevisionadvertising.Suchabanwouldbefairlyeasytoenactbecause

television advertising was statutorily controlled. A ban on advertising in other

media would need parliamentary legislation, which the government knew the

presswouldfighttooth-and-nail.Parliamentthereforebaulkedatthelatter,but

cigaretteadvertisingonUK television was stopped on 1 August1965.Atthat

time,the MinisterofHealthopinedin Parliament:‘Iratherdoubtwhetherthis

intensification of the campaign (against smoking) will result in any sudden or

dramatic drop in cigarette consumption.’ He was right: cigarette smoking

continuedtoriseinBritainuntilthemid-1970s.



Cigarettes were not the only goods, or services, banned from advertising on

television.Norwere they even,ascigarette advertisingprotagonistsfrequently

claimed,theonlygoodsbannedontelevisionwhichcouldbelegallyboughtand

sold. Breath-testingdevices,matrimonial agencies, fortune tellers, undertakers,

andeven(atthattime)charitiesandgambling,aswellaspoliticsandreligion–

allofwhichcouldbelegallyadvertisedinothermedia–hadbeenbannedfrom

commercial television from its start. But it was not unreasonable to view

cigarettesasaspecialcase.NothingsimilarhadeveroccurredinBritainbefore.

Cigaretteswereahighlypopular,massconsumerproductusedbythemajorityof

thepopulation,providingincomeandemploymenttohundredsofthousandsof

people, perhaps millions indirectly, and heavily taxed, thus providingthestate

with considerable cash to help underwrite many social needs. There was no

evidence that banning television advertising would do any good at all. In

imposing the ban, the government was feigning social responsibility while in

reality engaging in a cosmetic gesture to appease vociferous pressure groups.

And as it turned out, the ban achieved little or nothing. In the years that

followed, health warnings appeared on packs and advertisements, government

anti-smokingcampaignswererunfrequently,andaconstantstreamofmedical

reports publicized the dangers of smoking. In the end, the only measures that

trulymadepeoplesmokelessweremassivetaxincreases,whichmadesmoking

unaffordable,andbansonsmokinginpublicplaces.Despiteallofwhich,about

10 million people in Britain still smoke, almost 25% of the adult population,

nearlyhalfacenturyafterthebanontelevisionadvertising.



Underlying the debates about smoking are fundamental questions about the

influence of commercial advertising on social behaviour. To what extent can

bans on advertising realize social engineering goals? Pressure groups

everywhere in the world believe that alcohol advertising makes people drink

more, car advertising makes people speed, toy advertising makes kids pester

their parents, fast food and confectionery advertising makes kids (and adults)

obese, slimming advertising makes girls anorexic, and medicine advertising

makespeople hypochondriac.Itseems perverse– nottosay self-serving– for

the advertising industry to deny all this. If advertising does not increase these

habits,andthesemarkets,whydoadvertisersadvertise?



16.Doesalcoholadvertisingmakepeopledrinkmore?



At the close of the 20th century, as these sectoral attacks were growing in

numberandfrequency,theUKAdvertisingAssociationEconomicsCommittee

respondedbyresearchingandpublishingareporttitledDoesAdvertisingAffect

MarketSize?Theobjectivewastodeterminewhether,forexample,advertising

for alcohol brands truly does make people drink more (or make more people

drink), toy advertising truly does make parents spend more – or toilet soap

advertising makes people wash more. As with many such advertising studies,

therewasnosimple,definitiveanswer.Toquotethereport:



There is always the possibility that advertising affects the size of a

particularmarket,butitsscaleandsignificancearehighlyvariable.



Brand advertising, the study showed, rarely increases the size of a market (or

product sector) if the market is large, long-established, static, and satisfies a

basicneed.Nordo advertisersexpectotherwise.Toiletsoapadvertisersdonot

expect their advertising to make people wash more, any more than petfood

advertisers expect people to buy more pets or feed them more. Nor do

newspapers,whentheyadvertisethemselves,hopepeoplewillreadmorepapers.

Inallthosecases,andcountlessothers,theaimoftheadvertiseristoincrease

market share, at the expense of competitors. And that is precisely what the

advertising–ifitworksatall–achieves.



Ontheotherhand,inmarkets(orproductcategories)thataresmall,ornew,or

arealreadygrowing,brandadvertisingdoesappeartofuelgrowth,andgetsmore

peopletousetheproduct,orgetspeoplewhoalreadyusetheproducttouseit

more. New electrical and electronic gadgets and equipment, for example, fall

intothislattercategory,asdonewsnacksandhobbyproducts.Onceagain,what

happens is not accidental. In such markets, the advertiser wants to stimulate

growth,becauseasthemarketbecomeslarger,thesalesofallthebrandswithin

itincreasecommensurately.



Butmostoftheproductsandpracticesthatthepressuregroupswanttobanfrom

advertising – alcohol, ‘junk foods’, advertising to children, and so on – fall

straightintotheformercategory:large,static,well-establishedmarkets.Thatis

why the bans are ineffective. It is worth pointing out that when advertisers

deliberatelyaimtoincreasethesalesoflarge,static,well-establishedproducts–

astheyhavetriedtodoformilk,eggs,andmeatinthepast,forexample–those

campaigns have been equally ineffective. Once society has made its mind up

about a particularproduct,overmanyyears and often centuries, advertising is

not nearly a sufficiently powerful force to make people change their minds.

Advertisingcanmostdefinitelysellbrands,butitsroleinsocialengineeringis

minimal, if it exists at all. (It is true that advertising has helped discourage

drunken driving. But, as with smoking, the advertising was backed by strong

legislation, police activity, breathalysers, and relentless press publicity.

Advertisingalonewouldneverhavedonethetrick.)



Chapter9

Theroleofadvertisinginsociety



‘Do you think advertising is a moral activity’, I recently asked the 30 or so

graduates I was addressing at a seminar. The graduates had been working in

advertisingagenciesfortwoorthreeyears.Therewasastonysilence.



‘Whatdoyoumeanbyamoralactivity?’,oneofthemasked,eventually.



‘Well … do you think advertising really does good for the general public, for

ordinarypeople,formenandwomeninthestreet?’



Thegraduateslookedbewildered.



‘There’s the “Don’t Drink and Drive” campaign’, someone eventually said

thoughtfully.‘Thatdoesgood.That’smoral.’



‘AndtheGiveBloodads’,pipedupsomeoneelse.‘They’regoodtoo.Andsome

charityadvertsIsuppose.’



‘Anythingelse?’,Iaskedhopefully.Butthatwasit.Nobodycouldthinkofany

other advertising which they thought moral, or which did any good for the

general public, the men and women in the street. I felt profoundly depressed.

Herewasagroupoflivelyyoungpeople,abouttospendtheirlivesworkingin

anindustrywhich,asfarastheywereconcerned,providesalmostnoworthwhile

benefits to society. With the exception of a few government and charity

campaigns – a minuscule proportion of total advertising – they could think of

nothingmorallygoodtosayabouttheirchosencareer.



As we have seen, they are not alone. They were all well educated, with good

degreesfromgooduniversities.Mosteducated,intellectualpeopleare innately

hostiletoaspectsofadvertising.Some,likeLordReith,areinnatelyhostiletoall

aspectsofadvertising.Itwouldbeastonishingifanyoneashostiletoadvertising

asReithwouldchoosetoworkintheindustry.Butwithoutbeingashostileas

Reith,manyofthosewhoworkinadvertisinghavepersonalqualmsabouttheir

job.Andwhetherornottheypersonallyhavequalms,theysoonbecomeusedto

beingverballyattackedbyadvertising’scriticsatsocialevents–andquiteadept

at answering such critics, and fending off their attacks, whatever their own

qualms.



However,fewofthemaremuchgoodatturningthecriticismsontheirhead,and

showing advertising to be a highly worthwhile, indeed moral, business – a

businessthatordinarymenandwomeninthestreetbenefitfromdirectly,every

day, in countless ways. People in advertising get pretty good at defensively

arguing that it does little, if any, harm, but – as the graduates at the seminar

demonstrated–theyseemunabletoshowitdoesanypositivegood.Yetitdoes.



Aswesawinthefirstchapter,advertisinginvolvesatripartiteofthreedifferent

groups–plus,infact,acrucialfourthgroup,unmentionedinthatchapter.The

tripartitegroupsmentionedaretheadvertisers,whospendthemoney;themedia,

whogetabout90%ofthemoneytheadvertisersspend;andtheagencies,who

createthecampaigns,buythemedia–andmakeitallhappen,fortheremaining

10%.



Which, then, is the crucial fourth group involved in advertising? The fourth

groupisthegeneralpublic,theconsumers,theordinarymenandwomeninthe

streetwho are(orarenot)influenced bythe advertisements.This isthe group

the critics are usually concerned about when they question the morality and

benefits of advertising. But this group is not wholly separate to, or different

from,theothergroups.Allfourgroupsoverlapandinteract:theyaregenerally

the same people, with different hats on – the same members of society, in

differentaspectsoftheirlives.However,toanalyseitsmorality,itisessentialto

explorehowadvertisingaffectspeople–affectsallofus–whenwearewearing

thesedifferenthats.



Advertisinghelpsemployees



Let’sbegin,then,withtheadvertisers.Inthecontextofmorality,theadvertisers

concerned are usually large companies. Nobody would claim that large

companiesalwaysbehaveperfectly.Butequally,nobodywoulddenythatthere

aretwothingslargecompanieshavetodosupremelywell,iftheyaretostayin

businessoverthelongterm.Theyhavetoemployandmanagesizablenumbers

ofemployees,andtheyhavetomakeprofits.Sothemajorityofthosemenand

womeninthestreetearntheirpay,orareinthefamiliesofthosewhoearntheir

pay,frommajoradvertisers.Inshort,theyearntheirmoney–fortheirfood,their

clothes,andeverythingelse–fromthelargecompanies,themajoradvertisers.



Itmightbe,ofcourse,thatthemoneythelargecompaniesspendonadvertising

is unnecessary, is wasted. In the past, there undeniably were economists who

believedadvertisingisineffective,andisthereforeawasteofresources.Today

such economists are few and far between. Over recent decades, countless

econometricstudies,fromallaroundtheworld,haveestablishedbeyondfurther

argument that advertising works. Precisely how well advertising works varies

from campaign to campaign, as we saw in the section on the IPA Advertising

EffectivenessAwards.Butoverall,astheIPAAwardsprove,advertisingcreates

demand. What does this mean for ordinary men and women on the street? It

meansemployment. Demandcreatessales,salescreatejobs;no sales,no jobs.

Companiescannotemploypeopleunlessconsumersbuythegoodsandservices

thosepeopleproduce.Andmoresalesmeanmorejobs.Puttingitlikethatisa

tadsimplistic,butitisfundamentallytrue–asanybusinessleaderoreconomist

willconfirm.



Moreover, when they have jobs, they pay taxes: taxes that fund government

expenditure on education, health, law and order, and all the other social

amenities we value. Taxes that pay the salaries of all those who work for the

government, providing those social amenities. So no consumer demand means

nosales,nojobs,notaxes,nosocialamenities.Naturally,advertisingdoesnot

doallofthison itsown.Butitmakes apowerfulandpositivecontribution:it

helpskeepthewheelsofindustryspinning.



And it helps companies make profits, the profits on which their long-term

existence depends. Again, as we have seen, the precise profit advertising

generates will vary from company to company, from campaign to campaign.

And profits not only keep the companies in business, they are a major

contributor to taxes – to more social amenities; and company profits fund

investment,tocreatemorejobsinthefuture–makingthewheelsspinfasterand

longer.



Sothisisthefirstofadvertising’skeycontributionstosociety:whenpeopleare

wearing their workwear hats, advertising creates jobs and all the benefits that

flowfromthem.Maybethisexplainswhythereisnosuccessfuleconomyinthe

worldwherethereisnoadvertising.



Andwhiletalkingaboutjobs,itisworthnotingthatapproximatelyone-thirdof

all employees find their jobs as a result of seeing and responding to

advertisements.Thismaynotbe partof themaindebateaboutthe moralityof

advertising,butitisasubstantialbenefittosociety.



Advertisinghelpsmediausers



Let’s turn to the media, which receive the 90% or so of all advertisers’

expenditure. How does this help ordinary people? Well, first, in the UK it

provides them with roughly two-thirds of all their broadcast media, absolutely

free.Inothercountries,liketheUSA,thisfigurereaches100%ofallbroadcast

media.AndadvertisingheavilysubsidizestheInternet,sothatmostwebsitesare

available either without cost or at a fraction of theirset-up and running costs.

The digital media revolution, upon which we are all so dependent, has been

providedtousforverynearlynothing–paidforbyadvertising.Thisisatotally

newpublicbenefit.



Butadvertising’sbenefitstothemedia,andthustosociety,gowiderandmuch

deeper.Morethan3,000consumermagazinesarepublishedinBritain.Eachone

is of personal interest to groups of readers, large or small. And each one is

heavilysubsidizedbyadvertising,sothatitsreaders–allthosemenandallthose

womeninallthosestreets–buyitatasmallpercentageofitsproductioncost.

And research shows that many readers of special interest magazines find the

advertisements at least as helpful and interesting as the editorial itself. Some

magazines contain only advertisements, with no editorial whatsoever: living

proofthattheirreadersvaluetheadvertisingtheycontain.Aswithmagazines,so

itis withalmostallotheradvertising media,fromcinemastopublictransport:

therevenuetheyreceivefromadvertisingreduces,evenifonlymarginally,the

pricestheychargethepublicforwhattheyprovide.



Butwehavenotyetgottothemostsignificantmediabenefitofall.Advertising

provides societies with an open, influential, and politically independent press.

Without advertising, the price of newspapers would rocket. Then their

circulationswouldplummet.Thenthepriceswouldrocketagain.Theoutcome?

Ourdiverseandcompetitivelocalandnationalpresswouldshrivel.Newspapers

arealreadyunderheavycompetitionfromtheInternet.Withoutanyadvertising

subsidy,manynewspaperswouldclosedown.Aridiculousthought?Notatall.



Politicians,inall countries,oftenseek to controlthemedia – successfullyand

brutally in non-democratic autocracies. In democracies, their efforts to control

themediahavetobemoresubtle.Aswasnotedonpage19,inordertocontrol

the press, in 1712 British politicians imposed a duty of one shilling on every

advertisementpublishedinnewspapers.Thepoliticians’aimwasdeliberatelyto

cut the newspapers’ advertising revenue, in order to make the papers more

expensive and thus stop people – particularly poorer people – from reading

them.Thiswasoneofseveraltaxesdesignedtorestrainthepowerofthepress.

Theadvertisingtax wassteadilyincreased,andwasnotabandoneduntil1853.

Asintended,ithelpedholdbackthedevelopmentofafreepressinBritainfor

almost 150 years. A politically free and critical press, unfettered by any

dependence on government finance, is one of the strongest protectors of

individualliberty.Advertisingplaysavitalroleinthis.



As with advertisers, nobody would claim the media are perfect. But without

advertising,themediawouldbefarweaker,farsmaller,andalmostcertainlyfar

moreexpensive.Andthepublic,nowwearingtheirmedia-receivinghats,would

befarworseoff.



Advertisinghelpsnationalcreativity



Youwillrightlythinkthisistheleastcontentiousareaofthedebate.Advertising

inevitablyhelps advertisingagencies– thesmallest sectorofthetripartite– as

they would not exist without advertising. And advertising agencies are,

inherently,fountsofcreativity.



Butthiscontributesindirectbenefitstosocietytoo.Theagenciesprovidemany

seriousartistsandwriterswitharegularsalary,sotheycanpaintandwritetheir

ownworks. Numerouswriters andartists workedin agenciesbefore becoming

establishedintheirownright.Manygreatpainterswerealsogreatposterartists.

Exactly the same is true of film directors, many of whom learned their

cinematographic craft making commercials. The agencies provide creative

employment not only for the writers and art directors who work directly for

them, but also provide employment to a vast hinterland of freelance creative

people:photographers,designers,filmdirectors,lightingandcameramen,actors,

setdesigners,letteringartists–aswellasthosewhoproducethehardwareforall

their output: printers, film manufacturers and processors, display and set

builders. Together, this sprawling creative network feeds ideas and originality

into the nation’s creativity, catalysing a cauldron of innovation in both the

commercialandthepurearts,fromwhichsocietybenefitsimmensely.



Moreover,thepublic–wearingitsimaginary‘aesthetichat’–benefitsdirectly

from the agencies’ work, as many advertisements succeed in being amusing,

clever, witty, charming, striking, and sometimes even beautiful. This was well

expressedaslongagoas1896,inaHamburgPosterExhibitionCatalogue:



Artshouldbeaccessibletoeveryone…notonlytothosewhocanaffordto

buyworksofartorhavethetimetoseekthemoutingalleries…Artmust

goonthestreets,wherechancewillbringittothenoticeofmanythousands

ontheirwaytoworkwhohaveneitherthetimenormoneytospare.High

ethical standards are fulfilled by posters created for everyday practical

purposes–providedtheyaregoodposters.



Aperfectdescriptionofyetanotherwayinwhichadvertisingbenefitsthemen

and women in the street. But now we must come to the kernel of the moral

question.

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Advertisinghelpsthepublic



This is the trickiest part. Showing how employees and their families (that’s

nearly everyone), and media-users (that’s nearly everyone), and national

creativity (that involves nearly everyone) all benefit from advertising is

relatively straightforward. But does advertising really help when people are

wearing their fourth hat, as consumers? Or does it, as the critics have long

contended, merely manipulate them? Part of the problem here is that when it

comestoconsumers,totalkabout‘advertising’ismisleading.Consumersdonot

respond to advertising. They respond to advertisements. And, as has been

emphasizedthroughoutthisbook,advertisementsareextremelydiverse.Sothe

benefitsconsumersderivefromthemareequallydiverse.



Letusbeginwithinformation:welive,itisoftensaid,inaninformationsociety.

And economists have long justified advertising as a source of information.

Certainly the public obtains a great deal of important and helpful information

fromadvertisements.



Take prices. Nowadays, as we have seen, many of the largest advertisers are

retailers,andthegreatmajorityofretailadvertisementspromotelowprices.Not

onlyisthisinformationdirectlyhelpfulforshoppers,itindirectlydrivesprices

down. When one supermarketpromotesitslowprices for certain goods, other

supermarketsswiftlyretaliatebycuttingtheirownprices–otherwisetheyknow

theywilllosecustomers.Overall,pricesfall.Forthepublic,thisisaprettygood

deal.



At the same time, the quality of many of the goods and services we buy is

constantly being improved, however slightly. Consumers benefit by getting

information about these improvements from advertisements. And, once again,

thisforcescompetitorstoretaliatebymakingqualityimprovementsoftheirown.

It is a continuous process. As with price-based advertising, this stimulates

competition,andthepublicreapstherewards.



Thentherearecompletelynewproducts.Thepublicgetsitsinformationabout

new products in a multitude of ways, but none is faster or simpler than

advertising.Andthereareendlessoccasionswhenconsumersaresearchingfor

something–anewcar,orakid’sbirthdaypresent,oranointmenttotreattheir

spots–andadvertisementstellthemwhatisonoffer.Forconsumers,thisisall

helpfulinformation.



But it still begs one big question. How does the public benefit from

advertisements that contain little or no information – particularly if these

advertisements areforthingsthe public knows about already? Information-lite

advertisements include a great swathe of brand advertising, from Heineken to

Heinz,fromKellogg’stoKitKat,fromPersiltoPerrier.Sohowdoconsumers

benefitfromadvertisementsthatprovidethemwithalmostnoinformationatall?



In a couple of ways, at least. First, memories fail – or anyway need jogging.

Everyoneneedstoberemindedaboutbrandstheylike,butwhichslipfromtheir

minds. Awareness and tracking studies constantly show how quickly people

forget about a brand once its advertising stops. Second, marketplaces are not

static. Consumers’ needs change all the time as they progress through life’s

stages,andthoughtheymaylearnoftheexistenceofabrandwhenyoung,they

maynotneedtouseituntiltheyareolder.Aninformation-litememory-jogging

advertisementisoftensufficienttodothetrick.

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Finally,gettingbacktothegraduatesattheseminar,therearespecificareasof

advertising which incontestably help society. Most government campaigns,

charitycampaigns,andpressuregroupcampaignsbringworthwhilecausestothe

public’s attention. All these areas of advertising have grown in recent years.

They are not the basic moral justification for advertising – but they

unquestionablymaketheircontribution.

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Aburgeoningworldofchoice

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Advertisingtodaymustbeseeninthecontextofaworldofimmensevarietyand

choice.Ineconomieswherethereisnochoice,thereisnoneedforadvertising.

Butinmodern,affluentsocieties,theaveragelargesupermarketoffersshoppers

about40,000differentlines;therearesome2,000newmodelsofcaravailable;

plusanuncountablenumberofconsumerdurables,fashions,electronicwidgets,

entertainments,holidays,financialinvestments–thelistgoesonandon.People

need to be able to sort out all these choices reasonably swiftly and simply.

Advertisements help them select the things they want, and reject those they

don’t,withoutspendingforeveronthetask–andwithoutgoingcrazy.

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None of this will refute the arguments of those who are against particular

advertisingsectors.Peoplewhowanttobanadvertisingoftobacco,oralcohol,

or advertising to children will not be persuaded their views are wrong simply

becauseadvertisingisgenerallybeneficial.Butequally,theirspecificconcerns,

whether or not you agree with them, do not affect the broader case for

advertising.

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Sowhatistheroleofadvertisinginsociety?Itcreatesemployment,nowandin

thefuture;itprovidesthepublicwithnumerousfreeandinexpensivemedia;it

supportsmedia independence;itsuppliesshopperswithagreatdealof helpful

information;itpushespricesdownandqualityup;itkeepsthepublicawareof

all the different brands available; it helps them select from the vast range of

choicesmoderneconomiesoffer–anditdoesmostofthiscreatively,andcost-

effectively.Perhapsallthisshouldsufficetomakethegraduatesfeelthatifthey

do spend their lives working in advertising, well, their lives will indeed have

beenworthwhile.

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Furtherreading



Importantclassics



Claude Hopkins, Scientific Advertising (MacGibbon and Kee, 1968; first

published1923).

MartinMayer,MadisonAvenueUSA(Penguin,1960).

DavidOgilvy,ConfessionsofanAdvertisingMan(Atheneum,1963).

VancePackard,TheHiddenPersuaders(Penguin,1960).

RosserReeves,RealityinAdvertising(AlfredKnopf,1961).

Generalhistory



JohnBarnicoat,Posters:AConciseHistory(ThamesandHudson,1997).

LeonarddeVriesandJamesLaver,VictorianAdvertisements(JohnMurray,

1968).

LeonarddeVriesandIlonkaVanAmstel,AmericanAdvertisements1865–

1900(JohnMurray,1973).

Winston Fletcher, Powers of Persuasion: The Inside Story of British

Advertising1951–2000(OxfordUniversityPress,2008).

StephenFox,TheMirror Makers:AHistoryofAmericanAdvertisingand

itsCreators(UniversityofIllinoisPress,1997).

Brian Henry (ed.), British Television Advertising: The First 30 Years

(CenturyBenham,1986).

Terry R. Nevett, Advertising in Britain: A History (William Heinemann,

1982).

Mark Tungate, Adland: A Global History of Advertising (Kogan Page,

2007).

E.S.Turner,TheShockingHistoryofAdvertising(MichaelJoseph,1951).

Marketingandbranding

Tim Ambler, Marketing and the Bottom Line (Financial Times/Prentice

Hall,2003).

A.S.C.Ehrenberg,RepeatBuying(CharlesGriffin,1988).

Stephen King, A Master Class in Brand Planning, ed. Judie Lannon and

MerryBaskin(JohnWiley,2007).

NaomiKlein,NoLogo(HarperCollins,2000).

TheodoreLevitt,TheMarketingImagination(Macmillan,1983).

MarketingPocketBooks(AdvertisingAssociationwithWorldAdvertising

ResearchCenter,annually).

WallyOlins,CorporateIdentity(ThamesandHudson,1989).

Agenciesandcreativity



Jeremy Bullmore, Behind the Scenes in Advertising (World Advertising

ResearchCenter,2003).

DesignandArtDirectors’AwardsAnnuals,1964–.

IvanFallon,TheBrothers(Hutchinson,1988).

WinstonFletcher,TantrumsandTalent(AdmapPublications,1999).

JeremyMyersonandGrahamVickers,Rewind:FortyYearsofDesignand

Advertising(Phaidon,2002).

John Ritchie and John Salmon, Inside Collett, Dickenson and Pearce

(Batsford,2000).

MediaandInternet

Harry Henry, The Dynamics of the British Press 1961–1984 (Advertising

Association,1986).

JohnW.Hobson,TheSelectionofAdvertisingMedia(IPA,1955).

InteractiveAdvertisingBureau,http://www.iab.net

Nigel T. Packer, Internet Marketing: Strategies for Online Success (New

HollandPublishers,2009).

GodfreyParkin,DigitalMarketing(ElliotRightWayBooks,2008).

Advertisingeffectiveness

SimonBroadbent,AccountableAdvertising(NTCPublications,1997).

CharlesChannon(ed.),20AdvertisingCaseHistories(Cassell,1989).

Russell H. Colley, Defining Advertising Goals for Measured Advertising

Results (Association of American National Advertisers, first published

1961).

WinstonFletcher,AGlitteringHaze(NTCPublications,1992).

GiepFranzen,AdvertisingEffectiveness:FindingsfromEmpiricalResearch

(NTCPublications,1994).

Laurence Green (ed.), Advertising Works and How (IPA and World

AdvertisingResearchCenter,2005).

WorldAdvertisingResearchCenter,http://www.warc.com,1999–.

Index



accountmanagementandaccountplanning14–16,78–80,105–7

AdvertisingStandardsAuthority(ASA)102,113–17

agencies14–16,20,25–30seealsocreativeagencies;mediaagencies

alcohol117,119–20,122

artdirectors69,71–2

artists,benefiting128

Athens17,19

awareness6–7,58,92,108–9,130

bans117–21

BARB58

Bates,Ted102–5

Bernbach,Bill70

billboardsandhoardings61–2

BoaseMassimiPollit14

brainwashing99

brands5–13,22,39–44,103–4,108–9,120

Broadbent,Simon36–9

budget7,66,87–92

buying27,86–7

campaigns,creationofnew5–7,65–84

CarbolicSmokeBomb114–15

charities2,3,122,130

Cheskin,Louis98

choice,helpingwith131

CIA(CentralIntelligenceAgency)99

cigarettes117–18

cinema63,73,126,128

circulation9,49–55,88–9

classifieds3,23–4,47

click-through46–7,94–6

codesofpractice116–17

CollettDickensenPearce(CDP)71–2,77

colouradverts50,53–4,59

commercialtelevision55–6,61,112–13

commission25–8,30

complaints102,115–17

consumermagazines52–4,126

consumers,benefiting129–31

copy/artteamapproach66,69,71–4

copywriting21,68–9,71–2

cost-effectiveness36,38,61,90–1

costper1000calculations50–1,54

costsandpricing29,32,49–58,63–4,86–92,95–6,127,129

creativeagencies28–9,65–84,92–3,105–7,127–8

creativity,benefitingnational127–8

criticismofandhostilitytoadvertising19–20,111–12,115,122–3,131

DAGMAR37

decision-making11–16,87

definitionofadvertising1–3,5

definitionofmedia45–6

demographics22,50,64,95

Dichter,Ernest98,104

digitaltechnologyseeInternet

directmail(junkmail)60–1,89–90,96

directresponseadvertising43–4

directories54–5

displayadvertising47,55,94,95

DoyleDaneBernbach(DDB)69,70,71–2,77

editorialfunction,separationof24

effectivenessofadvertising5,34–9,46,61,90–1,103–4,109,124–5

EFFIES37

employees,benefiting124–6

end-benefits1–13

eye-tracking110

filmdirectors128

focusgroups105–7,109

FordEdsel35

freemediaandpress126–7

freedomofadvertisers113–15

full-serviceagencies25–8

generalinterestmagazines53

globalclientservicedirectors81–2

‘GoldenKey’5,34,38–9,97–8,101–2,105

Google29,31,94

Guinness107

health116–21

Heineken72

historyofadvertising11,17–18,39–40,97–102,111–15,127

hobbymagazines53,126

Hobson,John14,77

holdingcompanies28

Hopkins,Claude97–8

imageofbrands11–13,43,104

informativeadvertising1–2,3–5,122,129–30

interactivemedia63–4

interestdials110

internationaladvertising80–2

Internet29–31,45,63–4,89

agencies29–30,93–6

chargingandcosts29,51,63–4,95–6

classifieds23,47

click-through46–7,94–6

demographics64,95

displayadvertising47,94,95

freemedia126

payperclick95–6

‘search’advertising46–7,94–5

SixPrinciples83–4

television59–60

websites94,95–6,126

interviews10,98,105–6,108–9

IPA(InstituteofPractitionersofAdvertising)Awards36–9,125

JWalterThomson(JWT)14

jingles17–18

Johnson,Samuel19,20

journals54–5seealsomagazines

junk(direct)mail60–1,89–90,96

keyperformanceindicators(KPIs)109

Key,WilsonBryan.SubliminalSeduction100–1

Koch,AdolphS33–4

licensing56

logos42

long-termbrands,building36,39–40,43

loss-leaders26–7

loyaltytobrands43

magazines22,51–5,89,126

management77–82

marketseemarketresearch;targetmarket

marketresearch8–10,14–15,49–50,58,78–9,97–110,130

marketingcommunications,typesof1,22,27

marketingserviceconglomerates28

massmedia3,22,24

media3,22–4,45–64,126–7

mediaagencies28–30,65–6,85–96

messages6,46,67–8,108–9

minormedia60–3

misleadingadverts113–16

morality113–16,122–4

motivation(depth)research98–9,106

MRI(magneticresonanceimaging)scans110

multinationals81

names,uniquebrand42

nationalcreativity,benefiting127–8

nationalnewspapers48–51,88–9,127

NewsoftheWorld9

newspapers9,19,48–51,88–9,127

objectivesandpurposeofadvertising2–7,31–9,66,92

OFCOM,regulationby56

outdooradvertising61–2,89,92,128

own-brands,valueof42

ownershipofcompanies28

packaging42

Packard,Vance.TheHiddenPersuaders99–100

paid-foradvertising,meaningof2

payperclick95–6

paymentforadverts31–44seealsocostsandpricing

peak-timeandoff-peak59

Pears’Soap40–2

people,advertisingasbeingaimedat3

personalmedia60–1,63–4,126

personalitiesofadvertisingemployees75–9,85–7,128

persuasiveadvertising1–2,3–5

PGTipsTea39,40

planning14–16,78–80,86–7,105–7

politicalindependence126–7

positioningofadverts42,50

posters61–2,89,128

post-launchtracking105–6,107–9

press9,19,22–4,48–55,88–9,116,126–7

pre-testing105–7

pricingandcosts29,32,49–58,63–4,86–92,95–6,127,129

primemedia46

printmedia9,19,22–4,48–55,88–9,116,126–7

printingpress,inventionof19

professionaljournals54–5

psychologyandemotions12–13,15,76–7,97–8,104,109–10

public,benefitingthe129–31

pupildilation109–10

qualityofgoodsandservices,improving129–30

radio62,116

readershipandaudiences22,50,52,53–5,58–64,88–9,95,126

regionalnewspapers51–2

regulation55–6,112–13,115–17

research8–10,14–15,49–50,58,78–9,97–110,130

restraintoftrade28

results,measuring36–7,103–4

RomanEmpire19

satellitebroadcasting56–7

‘search’advertising46–7,94–5

sectors,listoftop32–3

Schweppes39,41

science,advertisingasa97–8

selectionofmedia88–91

servicesector13,129–30

sex100–2

short-termsales36,39

sizeofadverts50,53–4,89,91–3

sizeofmarket,increasingthe119–21

socialbehaviour117–21

society,rolein122–31

space21,27,49–51,53–4

specialinterestandhobbymagazines22,53,126

specialists20–1,27–8,30,50,65,82–4,94

Strandcigarettes35

strategy6–7,14–16,65–7,74–6,79,86–7,105–6

structureofindustry17–30,123–4

subliminaladvertising100–1

subsidiesfromadvertising127

supportorremindermedia61–3

surveys10,107–8

sweatmeasurement110

tachistoscopes110

TargetGroupIndex(TGI)10,91

targetmarket7–13,22,42–3,54–5,59,61,73,78,86–93,105–6

tax19,125,127

teamwork66–9,71–4

television53–62,69–72,89–90,112–17

terrestrialtelevision56

timingandfrequencyofadverts55–6,59,93

tobacco117–18

towncriers17,19

trackingstudies105–6,107–9,130

tradeandprofessionaljournalsanddirectories54–5

trade-offs91–2

transport61,126

tripartitestructure21–5,123–4

truth113–16

uniquesellingproposition(USP)102–5,108

users,mediaasbenefiting126–7

valueofbrands42–3

varietyandtypesofmedia45–8

Vicary,James100–1

video-on-demand60

viralmarketing31

visualizers68–9

Volkswagen69,71

websites94,95–6,126

women’smagazines53

word-of-mouth31

WPP10,14,28,30

writers,benefiting128

youthmarket63

zappingthroughchannels60

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VERYSHORT

INTRODUCTIONS

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CLASSICS

AVeryShortIntroduction

MaryBeardandJohnHenderson

This Very Short Introduction to Classics links a haunting temple on a lonely

mountainsidetothegloryofancientGreeceandthegrandeurofRome,andto

Classicswithinmodernculture–fromJeffersonandByrontoAsterixandBen-

Hur.



‘Theauthorsshow us thatClassicsis a “modern”and sexy subject. They

succeedbrilliantlyinthisregard…nobodycouldfailtobeinformedand

entertained–andtheaccentofthebookisprovocativeandstimulating.’

JohnGodwin,TimesLiterarySupplement



‘Statues and slavery, temples and tragedies, museum, marbles, and

mythology – this provocative guide to the Classics demystifies its varied

subject-matterwhileseducingthereaderwiththeobviousenthusiasmand

pleasurewhichmarkitswriting.’

EdithHall



www.oup.co.uk/vsi/classics



MUSIC

AVeryShortIntroduction

NicholasCook

ThisstimulatingVeryShortIntroductiontomusicinvitesustoreallythinkabout

musicandthevaluesandqualitiesweascribetoit.



‘Atourdeforce.NicholasCookiswithoutdoubtoneofthemostprobing

andcreativethinkersaboutmusicwehavetoday.’

JimSamson,UniversityofBristol



‘Nicholas Cook offers a perspective that is clearly influenced by recent

writing in a host of disciplines related to music. It may well prove a

landmarkintheappreciationofthetopic…Inshort,Icanhardlyimagineit

beingdonebetter.’

RogerParker,UniversityofCambridge



www.oup.co.uk/vsi/music



BUDDHISM

AVeryShortIntroduction

DamienKeown

From its origin in India over two thousand years ago Buddhism has spread

throughoutAsiaandisnowexertinganincreasinginfluenceonwesternculture.

Inclearandstraightforwardlanguage,andwiththehelpofmaps,diagramsand

illustrations,thisbookexplainshowBuddhismbeganandhowitevolvedintoits

present-day form. The central teachings and practices are set out clearly, and

keystopicssuchaskarmaandrebirth,meditation,ethics,andBuddhisminthe

Westreceivedetailedcoverageinseparatechapters.Thedistinguishingfeatures

ofthemainschools–suchasTibetanandZenBuddhism–areclearlyexplained.

Thebookwillbeofinteresttoanyoneseekingasoundbasicunderstandingof

Buddhism.



‘DamienKeown’sbookisareadableandwonderfullylucidintroductionto

one of mankind’s most beautiful, profound, and compelling systems of

wisdom. His impressive powers of explanation help us to come to terms

withavitalcontemporaryreality.’

BryanAppleyard



www.oup.co.uk/vsi/buddhism



LITERARYTHEORY

AVeryShortIntroduction

JonathanCuller

LiteraryTheoryisacontroversialsubject.Saidtohavetransformedthestudyof

cultureandsocietyinthepasttwodecades,itisaccusedofunderminingrespect

for tradition and truth, encouraging suspicion about the political and

psychological implications of cultural products instead of admiration for great

literature.InthisVeryShortIntroduction,JonathanCullerexplains‘theory’,not

by describing warring ‘schools’ but by sketching key ‘moves’ that theory has

encouraged and speaking directly about the implications of cultural theory for

thinkingaboutliterature,aboutthepoweroflanguage,andabouthumanidentity.

Thislucidintroductionwillbeusefulforanyonewhohaswonderedwhatallthe

fussisaboutorwhowantstothinkaboutliteraturetoday.



‘Itisimpossibletoimagineaclearertreatmentofthesubject,oronethatis,

withinthegiven limitsof length, morecomprehensive. Culler hasalways

beenremarkableforhisexpositoryskills,andherehehasfoundexactlythe

rightmethodandtoneforhispurposes.’

FrankKermode



www.oup.co.uk/vsi/literarytheory



HINDUISM

AVeryShortIntroduction

KimKnott

Hinduism is practised by eighty per cent of India’s population, and by thirty

million people outside India. In this Very Short Introduction, Kim Knott

combines a succinct and authoritative overview of a major religion with an

analysisof thechallengesfacing itin thetwentiethcentury.She discusseskey

preoccupationsofHinduismsuchasthecentralityoftheVedaasreligioustexts,

theroleofbrahmins,gurus,andstorytellersinthetransmissionofdivinetruths,

andtheimportanceofepicssuchastheRamayana.Issuessuchastheplaceof

women and dalits (untouchables) in contemporary society are also addressed,

makingthisbookstimulatingreadingforHindusandnon-Hindusalike.



‘Thisbookisinstantlyaccessibleinitsapproachwithoutbeinginanyway

condescendingoranoversimplification.’

JuliaLeslie,SchoolofOrientalandAfricanStudies,London



‘very readable and certainly most helpful, with a new and original

perspectiveconveyedinasuccinctintroductorystyle’

UrsulaKing,UniversityofBristol



www.oup.co.uk/vsi/hinduism

